PHOENIX -- Ryan Braun wore No. 75 during his first Spring Training in 2007, when the complex formerly known as Maryvale Baseball Park looked a lot different than it did on soggy days like Saturday.

After two weeks of sunshine, rain washed out the Brewers’ 2020 Cactus League opener against the Rangers, pushing the unofficial start of Milwaukee’s season to Sunday afternoon at home against the Padres. Brett Anderson will start, followed by three pitchers -- Josh Lindblom, Adrian Houser and Eric Lauer -- who were originally scheduled to pitch Saturday. Each is expected to work one inning.

Braun remembers the days when weather like Saturday would have meant a complete washout. But while manager Craig Counsell would have liked to get more accomplished -- “The rain still crushes us. Baseball players need to get outside,” he said -- the days of a total loss are long gone, thanks to the $60 million renovation last year of what is now known as American Family Fields of Phoenix.

“This place is definitely more conducive to having productive days in the event you can’t get outside,” Braun said.

That’s an understatement. Before the mid-2000s, activity on a rainy day in the Maryvale neighborhood of west Phoenix would have been all but non-existent because the practice mounds and batting cages were exposed to the elements. Eventually, the city and team invested to enclose a batting cage, but it required a run through the rain across a parking lot to get there. Players were mostly confined to the small clubhouse and an even smaller weight room, which required the loose implementation of shifts so inexperienced players and veterans alike could get in a workout. It wasn’t until the mid-2010s that the weight room was finally expanded, but even then, it was tight.

Now, the Brewers have sprawling, state-of-the art facilities that mean they can work around rainy days. The renovation added another set of covered mounds and an additional covered batting cage, in which the netting can be cleared to create a space large enough to hit ground balls. There is more room to hit in what has been dubbed “the barn,” a climate-controlled structure built to be cooled for use during the scorching summer months. For the arms, there is an indoor mound in the Brewers’ tech-stocked pitching lab.

The new weight room spans 4,800 square feet, next to expanded medical facilities and a resistance pool.

So while it rained outside Saturday, the Brewers’ preparation went on.

“[In the old weight room], there was an unofficial schedule,” Braun said. “The shorter-tenured guys were expected to be there as early as possible. So there wasn’t an official schedule, per se, but it was an unofficial rule because it wasn’t big enough for everyone to fit. This facility is now way more conducive to having a successful, productive day.”

“It’s perfect,” said third-base coach Ed Sedar, whose tenure goes back to the Brewers’ first year at Maryvale Baseball Park in 1998. “Even something as simple as the video rooms, they're bigger. We have meeting rooms. Everything is expanded. Granted, it's raining, but if you want to accomplish some stuff ... you can make do. Pitchers still have to throw and now it can get done.”

The schedule will help the Brewers catch-up from Saturday’s rainout. The Brewers have split-squad games on Monday at home against the Angels and on the road against the A’s, and they were planning to “borrow” a number of pitchers from the Minor League camp to cover the innings.

The forecast looks good moving forward. If that changes, the Brewers will have the space to work through some bad weather thanks to their improved facility.

“It’s been a ridiculously good return on investment so far,” Brewers principal owner Mark Attanasio said. “I walked in and I still couldn’t process that this was ours.”

“You can plan all you want, but seeing it in person, it's pretty impressive,” Sedar said.