Brewers Open Roof for Game 2 After Wild Game 1 Ending

The roof at American Family Field has suddenly become the main character of the Brewers-Padres NLDS.

After its involvement in a hotly debated Game 1 Brewers win, the roof will be open for Game 2.

Front Office Sports confirmed the roof’s status by calling the Brewers’ roof hotline, a publicly listed phone number that delivers a pre-recorded message with a daily weather report and roof status.

The hotline message says “the roof will be OPEN” for Sunday’s game against San Diego.

It was closed Saturday night when, in the top of the ninth, Ty France launched a moonshot that bounced off a part of the roof and landed harmlessly in Jackson Chourio’s glove for the second out.

Though confusion reigned on the Fox broadcast, Milwaukee’s ground rules clearly state that if a ball hits the roof in fair territory, the ball remains in play. San Diego challenged that the ball was foul but lost, and the Brewers hung on for a 3–2 win.

The Brewers won a nip-and-tuck Game 2 Sunday night to take control of the series.

MLB controls decisions about retractable roofs in the playoffs. Light showers were forecast for Saturday night, while Sunday’s conditions were supposed to be sunnier. The league told the teams that the roof would be closed under normal local weather protocols, and both teams agreed to the roof closing before Game 1.

Though balls striking the roof in Milwaukee is exceedingly rare, Brewers third-base coach Matt Erickson told reporters that the home-plate umpire told both teams about the roof rules before the game and walked them through the exact scenario that ended up playing out. In Erickson’s telling, he responded with: “I haven’t seen this in six years, but it’s definitely happening tonight.”