This baseball season will be the fifth for the Padres in San Diego’s plush Petco Park.

It will also be the fifth consecutive year that beer at the ballpark will be more expensive than the previous season. And that’s just the way baseball likes it.

A pint of suds at Petco will cost $6.50 this year, and that’s on the cheap end. Some premium beer brands, like Heineken, for example, will go for $9 per 12-ounce bottle. The margins from beer sales, as SIGNONSANDIEGO.COM’s Michael Stetz explains, are considerable.

The Padres charge $8.50 for a 20-ounce cup of Bud Light, meaning a single keg produces as much as $842 in sales.

The local distributor charges about 93 cents for a 12-ounce bottle of Heineken. That bottle, considered a premium brand, sells for $9 at Petco.

Not all teams are jacking up prices, however. Take the Angels, for example.

The new owner, Arturo Moreno, thought prices had spun out of control and cut some by up to 20 percent. The Angels still haven’t increased the price of a 14-ounce beer at Angel Stadium [in five years]. It remains $4.50 this season.

High concession prices may add to the bottom line in the short term, but for the average fan, two things happen. Fan resentment and the incentive to bootleg both increase. That’s why when I go to a game these days, I always sneak in a flask of Maker’s Mark and a large pepperoni pizza. You’d be amazed how long pizza stays warm in your pants.