At long last, MLB is letting the Milwaukee Brewers take advantage of a wonderful day.
Brewers PR manager John Steinmiller (@jstein1981) just tweeted the following from his personal account:
@jstein1981John H. Steinmiller Roof expected to be open for Game 1 today! #Brewers #Postseasonbit.ly/plAYCF
So there you have it. The Miller Park roof will be open for Game 1 of the NLCS between the Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals.
This is of course the common sense decision. It’s a beautiful day in Milwaukee, with game time temperatures expected to be 73 degrees and sunny at first pitch. The roof and the panels should be open. What’s going to be interesting is to see what the ramifications are for the entire NLCS.
I made my feelings clear about MLB’s decision to close the roof for Friday night’s deciding Game 5 between the Brewers and Diamondbacks. If it’s a nice day outside and you’ve got a retractable roof, said retractable should be open. Period.
Brewers’ spokesman Tyler Barnes said the decision was made in the interest of keeping playing conditions consistent. Both the Diamondbacks and Brewers play in retractable roof stadiums, and the roofs had been closed for the previous four games.
Herein lies the problem — the Cardinals play in an open air stadium. Weather conditions are always going to be a factor at Busch Stadium regardless of what MLB or eithr team wants. And while conditions are supposed to be pleasant once again in Milwaukee tomorrow night — 65 and clear for the 7:05 first pitch — if the series goes to Games 6 and/or 7, things are expected to return to normal fall temperatures in the Cream City, with highs in the mid-50s later this week and into next. Do you keep the roof/panels open in the name of consistency or do you shut off the elements to ensure that the game is played in ideal conditions?
Of course that’s not my call to make — that’s MLB’s.
