As Wisconsin is hit with heavy rains and flash flooding, the Milwaukee Brewers are moving ahead with Sunday’s game as scheduled. The game, against the New York Mets, is set to take place in Milwaukee’s American Family Field at 1:10 p.m. local time, with the Brewers one win away from a series sweep.
The team announced Sunday morning that they would be playing as planned, but warned fans about significant road closures into the stadium. In addition, about half of the parking lots around the stadium are closed due to standing water, with the team adding that fans will not be guaranteed parking even if they paid for it in advance.
Additionally, Sunday’s game was set to be a Jacob Misiorowski t-shirt giveaway, with the Brewers planning to give away the shirts to the first 25,000 fans. The team said that the giveaway will still be happening, but a second Misiorowski shirt giveaway will be scheduled on another game to accommodate fans who won’t be able to make it.
The Milwaukee area was hit with excessive heavy rains starting on Saturday, hitting a two-day rainfall record in the area, per the National Weather Service. The area received 7.96 inches between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, though though some parts of Milwaukee received as many as 10 inches of rain.
Due to the weather, rainwater started to fall onto American Family Field on Saturday during the Brewers’ 7-4 win over the Mets, despite the roof being closed.
After the game, the storm was still going in full force as fans were trying to leave the stadium. Videos and photos on social media show flooding on the roads and lots around the stadium well into the night, and on Sunday mornign.
Ahead of Sunday’s game, Brewers president of business operations Rick Schlesinger told reporters the reseasoning behind letting the game go on as scheduled.
“Obviously it’s not a simple situation. The fact is the building is in great shape, so we’re very fortunate that there was no damage,” Schlesinger said, via MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy. “After talking internally … we felt that it was the right thing to do to still play the game. There are ways to get here. Obviously, the fans know that the normal access points are gonna be a little compromised, so they’re gonna make alternate routes.
“We decided that, given that this is the last time the Mets are gonna be here this year, in the regular season, given that the ballpark is in fine shape,” he continued, “we felt we could play the game under these circumstances. The fans that can come, that’s great. Fans that can’t, again, they won’t be negatively impacted by the fact that they can’t use their ticket. We’ll make that exchange available to them, and they’ll come to another game.”
With Sunday’s game continuing as planned, Brewers are set for a sweep over the Mets, after beating New York 3-2 and 7-4 on Friday and Saturday. Quinn Priester will take to the mound for Milwaukee, while Sean Manaea will pitch for the Mets.
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