MILWAUKEE -- The Brewers had the best record in baseball this season. The Padres finished as the hottest team in baseball. Their National League Division Series was always likely to be decided by the slimmest of margins.
Like, a cable on the roof of American Family Field.
Seriously.
Where the ball would have landed had it not been obstructed remains open for debate. But ultimately, it settled in the glove of left fielder Jackson Chourio for the second out in the top of the ninth inning.
“I haven’t really been able to fully process it,” France said. “But it was a game-changing swing.”
“I came in here and said, ‘Incredible home-field advantage,’” Brewers third-base coach Matt Erickson said. “That’s the advantage you get when you win 103 games.”
The game began like every Major League game does -- with the exchange of lineup cards and a brief discussion of the ground rules for American Family Field. Erickson represented the home team in that gathering, and said home-plate umpire Nick Mahrley concluded with a few words about the roof trusses and cables high above the playing field, describing how a fly ball that hits in fair territory and lands fair is a live ball. If it’s caught, the batter is out. He ran through every possible scenario.
“We joked about it at the umpire meeting today,” said Padres manager Craig Stammen.
“I looked at everybody,” said Erickson, “and said, I haven’t seen this in six years, but it’s definitely happening tonight. They all started laughing.”
And sure enough, it happened.
“It’s unbelievable,” Erickson said. “You can’t make this stuff up.”
William Contreras had given the Brewers a 3-2 lead in the seventh inning with a solo home run, and that’s where things stood in the ninth when France came to the plate with one on and one out.
He launched a towering drive toward the left-field corner, then stood at home plate and watched it -- absolutely convinced it was leaving the yard either way, and mostly convinced that it was going to be a home run.
“I guess the biggest question was whether it was going to stay fair or foul,” France said. “I thought I backspun it and thought it was going to stay fair. Knew it was going out.”
In France’s mind, he’d just given the Padres a one-run lead (with Mason Miller looming in the bullpen). At worst, it would be strike one.
Instead, Chourio camped under the ball and made the play -- preserving the Brewers’ lead.
It’s obviously impossible to tell where the ball would’ve otherwise landed. But it was certainly an outlier type of swing. France’s blast had a 49-degree launch angle. Only 10 over-the-fence home runs in the Statcast era have had a launch angle at least that high. There's never been a home run with a launch angle above 46 degrees at American Family Field.
“I wasn’t all that sure that it even hit anything,” Chourio said. “I thought I had a chance on that ball the whole time off the bat, and the only thing I realized is that it kind of changed directions.”
Everyone had a different opinion. Brewers manager Pat Murphy said the ball was tailing foul, “for sure,” and Chourio thought that had a chance to be true. Brewers relievers couldn’t judge fair-foul from their angle in the bullpen, but they were certain the ball had enough distance. Left-hander Kyle Harrison recalled righty Chad Patrick saying, “I think that ball’s gone, boys.”
Some members of Milwaukee’s coaching staff believe the same. The Brewers have more in-house camera angles than even the national television broadcast, and two coaches said they saw definitively that the ball would have stayed fair had it kept sailing, unobstructed.
From behind the plate, Contreras had a good vantage point to settle the other question: Would it have gone far enough to be a homer?
He had no doubt.
“If that ball doesn’t hit there, it might break the glass up there,” Contreras said, referring to the wall of windows of the indoor golf facility above left field.
First, however, everyone had to figure out the rule. Chourio admitted he didn’t know it. Same for Megill, until the umpire told him.
San Diego challenged the ruling, hoping the ball had hit the cable in foul territory (thus rendering it a foul ball). But after a brief review the call stood. France was out.
It marked the second time this season a Padre has been robbed of a potential home run by the roofing of a ballpark. Xander Bogaerts had one taken away at Tropicana Field in late August.
In a quiet visitors’ clubhouse, nobody argued with Saturday’s ruling. But they lobbied for a change in those rules.
“You would think with all the technology and data that we have now, we’d be able to make a clear call on that,” France said. “There should be something put in place right there. That shouldn’t be an out. … We’ve got ball tracking. We’ve got exit velo. We’ve got projected distances. We have all that stuff.
“It is what it is. Just got to move on to tomorrow.”
While rare, it’s not the first time the roof truss has impacted a game. During the sixth inning of Game 4 of the 2008 NLDS, Philadelphia’s Jayson Werth hit a fly ball that seemed headed for left field, but hit the truss and headed downward toward the infield. Then-Brewers third baseman Craig Counsell made a terrific diving catch.
And in April 2018 against the Reds, Cincinnati’s Scooter Gennett hit a fly ball to right field that hit a truss and fell into the glove of Brewers second baseman Eric Sogard for an out.
But Saturday was by far the most noteworthy occurrence. Afterward, Murphy expanded on the Brewers’ home-field advantage, taking it a step further by invoking legendary late broadcaster Bob Uecker.
"I think the only thing that you could probably figure on the ball that everybody's going to be talking about is that Ueck decided to put his hand on it and swat it down so Chourio could catch it," Murphy said. "So thanks, Ueck."