Check out a few of the new things at Great American Ballpark

Baseball season made its blessed return Friday as the Reds played the Nationals in a belated Opening Day game.

I made a couple of trips around the Great American Ball Park to see what's new for 2018.

First off, there's a new double-decker bar sponsored by Budweiser in right field.

Credit: Marcus Hartman

Credit: Marcus Hartman

You might notice it fills in the gap between the moon deck and the rest of the park, so if you enjoyed seeing barges float by on the muddy Ohio River, you're out of luck.

I trekked up there and found it pretty full as first pitch approached.

Credit: Marcus Hartman

Credit: Marcus Hartman

Here's the view of the field.

Credit: Marcus Hartman

Credit: Marcus Hartman

And here's how the river looks from up there.

Credit: Marcus Hartman

Credit: Marcus Hartman

There are many new food items, but I didn't get to sample any of them yet.

I wanted to try Fry Box, but I didn't feel like waiting in line.

Credit: Marcus Hartman

Credit: Marcus Hartman

It must be pretty good because that line was still long in the seventh inning.

Hard to screw up buffalo chicken fries, right?

Credit: Marcus Hartman

Credit: Marcus Hartman

Some of the other new stuff is a little less conspicuous -- other than Frisch's, but I can get that any time, right?

Speaking of lines, the Reds have devised a new way to avoid them by ordering food via the Ballpark app and going to pick it up when it's ready.

Pretty smart.

Credit: Marcus Hartman

Credit: Marcus Hartman

Credit: Marcus Hartman

Credit: Marcus Hartman

There are lots of new places to drink, including something called the Garden Bar.

Credit: Marcus Hartman

Credit: Marcus Hartman

I haven't quite figured out what the function of that is aside from being one more place to get booze, but maybe there doesn't need to be another function.

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