The fireworks end, the stadium lights click down a notch, and a few thousand people reach for their phones at the same time. I've stood in enough ballpark parking lots on fireworks night to know what's next. Surge pricing. A pickup zone nobody can find. And one guy in a jersey swearing he's fine to drive because his last beer was “hours ago.”

That moment is the part of game day nobody puts in the itinerary. We plan the tailgate, the seats and the hot dog order down to the mustard. The ride home gets figured out around the ninth inning, the worst possible time to figure anything out.

So here's the short answer on baseball game day transportation: decide how everyone gets home before you leave the house. Pick a sober driver who skips alcohol for the whole day, or line up a rideshare, shuttle or walkable hotel before anybody orders a beer. Then put the plan where the whole group can see it.

You already planned everything else

Think about how much of a ballgame you've mapped out by the time you're in the car. You already know:

  • Which gate you're entering.
  • Where you're parking.
  • Who has the tickets.
  • Whether you're staying for fireworks.

Add one more decision to that list. How are you getting home?

If alcohol is part of the afternoon or evening, choose the transportation plan before the first drink rather than trying to decide afterward whether someone “feels okay.” Feeling okay after five innings of sun and two tall cans isn't a measurement. It's a guess, usually made by the person in the worst shape to make it.

Feeling okay after five innings of sun and two tall cans isn't a measurement. It's a guess.

Pick the driver before the first beer

A designated driver only works if that person really doesn't drink. Not one at the tailgate, not “only until the fifth.” South Carolina's legal limit is .08, same as most states, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is clear that alcohol slows reaction time and judgment well before a driver hits that number.

The good news is that ballparks make this easier than they used to. Many big-league and minor-league parks run designated driver programs, often through the TEAM Coalition, where the driver signs up at guest services and usually gets a free soft drink for the trouble. Ask at the first booth you pass.

And don't count on last call to do the job for you. Most parks stop selling beer late in the game, usually around the seventh or eighth inning. A cutoff on sales isn't a cutoff on what people already drank, so the driver question has to be settled hours earlier.

Rideshare after the final out takes patience

Rideshare is a perfectly good plan. It just isn't an instant one. When a big crowd lets out, prices jump, waits stretch and drivers get stuck in the same traffic you're trying to escape. A few habits help:

  • Find the official rideshare pickup zone before first pitch. Teams usually post it on the ballpark's guest info page, and it's often a short walk from the main gate.
  • Agree on a meeting spot that isn't “by the gate.” Every gate is by the gate.
  • Wait it out. Stay for the postgame fireworks, grab a last pretzel, or walk a few blocks away from the crush. Twenty minutes of patience can beat a long surge.
  • Keep a phone charged. A dead battery at 10:45 p.m. turns a plan into a problem.

Transit counts too. In Washington, Chicago and Boston, trains run close enough to the park that driving is the harder option. Ride in, ride out, and nobody argues about who's behind the wheel.

Road trips and tournament weekends stretch the day

The ride-home question gets bigger on a baseball weekend. A Myrtle Beach trip to catch the Pelicans can turn into a beach morning, a minor-league ballgame and a late dinner on the Grand Strand, all in one long, sunny stretch. That's three rides, and each one deserves a plan.

On a baseball road trip, I like booking the hotel close enough to walk back or take a short cab, then leaving the car parked for the night. Tournament parents know a version of this already. After a day of pool-play games and hotel-lobby pizza, some of the adults unwind with a drink. Fine. Just make sure whoever drives the minivan to the 8 a.m. game stopped early the night before.

If the night goes wrong anyway

Plans help, but people still make bad calls. If someone is actually arrested for DUI in Horry County, however, the question has moved beyond baseball travel and into an individual legal matter.

Johnny Gardner Law currently focuses on DUI defense throughout Horry County. Someone needing case-specific guidance could independently consult a Grand Strand DUI lawyer about the circumstances of their case.

Plan the ninth inning before the first pitch

The baseball-fan version of all this is simpler. Plan the ninth inning before the first pitch.

Here's my one ask. Next time you send the group text with the ticket screenshots and the parking pass, add a line at the bottom: who's driving, or which app, and where you're meeting after the last out. It takes ten seconds. And it keeps the best part of the night, that slow walk out with the lights still on and a souvenir cup in your hand, the best part.