MILWAUKEE -- From a winning opener to a World Series clincher, here are our picks for the best moments in the history of American Family Field (formerly Miller Park).
1) Brewers win the World Series (1,200 miles away)
Oct. 28, 2026 – 4-1 win at Rays
Never mind that the field was empty. It didn’t matter that the game was played in Florida. If you want to understand why this place is different from other Major League outposts, consider the late October night on which the Brewers’ domed home was bursting with 31,000 fans celebrating the final out of the World Series. Thousands more would have loved to be there, but when the Brewers hosted watch parties for Games 3-5 at Tropicana Field, they limited attendance to as many fans as could have a view of the scoreboard.
When the Brewers won, blue and gold confetti rained onto an unoccupied diamond. “Glory Days” blared through the speakers. Strangers embraced. Some fans cried. Others stood motionless, trying to comprehend what they had just witnessed. Then the center-field scoreboard delivered the words Milwaukee had waited a lifetime to see:
2026 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS.
“I’ve been a fan since 1970,” said Don MacLeod, a season-ticket holder for 20 years. “This is amazing. I’ve waited my whole life for this.”
2) The 2008 finale
Sept. 28, 2008 -- 3-1 win over Cubs
There were big moments before and after, but Miller Park never shook with pure joy on a game day like it did on this Sunday afternoon. Perhaps it was joy mixed with relief, since the Brewers were going on 26 years since they last made the postseason, and now their National League Wild Card hopes hung on the thinnest of lines. Manager Ned Yost had been dismissed with 12 regular-season games to go. The Crew won just enough under interim skipper Dale Sveum to get the job done, and of course it was left-hander CC Sabathia carrying the team to the finish line. Making the third of four consecutive starts on short rest, even though he was a second-half rental with free agency on the line, Sabathia pitched a complete game to beat the Cubs in the regular-season finale, getting the lead for the first time in the bottom of the eighth thanks to Ryan Braun’s go-ahead two-out, two-run home run. It was the most consequential home run hit by a Brewer at Miller Park.
After Sabathia induced a game-ending double play, the Brewers and a full house of fans turned their attention to the Marlins-Mets game on the scoreboard. Milwaukee needed a Mets loss. When that game ended, the celebration was on.
“I had tears in my eyes, I really did,” longtime television analyst Bill Schroeder said. “I’m not an emotional guy. But after all those years? I’m telling you, even in '05 when we guaranteed a .500 season, that was emotional. We had some bad years. Some really bad years. We had a lot more bad years than good. In 2002, 106 losses, that was as bad as it gets. So that day in '08, that was my favorite sports moment. I’m not talking about my broadcasting career, I’m talking about my sports career. Everything. It doesn’t compare to that day. To this day when I think about it, I get fired up. I don’t want to forget that moment and how we felt.”
3) 2011 NL Division Series Game 5
Oct. 7, 2011 -- 3-2 win over D-backs
After a rare blown save in the ninth inning -- on a bunt hit, of all things -- Brewers closer John Axford held the tie, then pitched a scoreless 10th to set up a walk-off win in this decisive game of the best-of-five series. Carlos Gómez knocked a one-out single off J.J. Putz and stole second base even though the D-backs and the rest of the stadium knew Gómez was going to try to do it. That put the winning run in scoring position for colorful outfielder Nyjer Morgan, who was 2-for-15 in the series as he dug into the batter’s box. Five innings earlier, Morgan snapped his bat over his knee after a popout. And the inning after that, he misplayed a line drive.
“I remember him sitting on the bench with his head down,” said Martín Maldonado, a rookie catcher who was with the team throughout that postseason but was not active. “I was sitting right there. Gómez walked by and said, ‘Buddy, put your head up. You’re going to be part of us winning this game.’ Two innings later -- boom.”
“Boom” might be a bit strong. Morgan instead “tickled” a base hit -- his word -- right up the middle. Gómez raced home with the winning run. For the first time in 29 years, the Brewers had triumphed in a postseason series.
4) Another NLDS walk-off
Oct. 4, 2026 -- 4-3 win over Padres
The previous night in Game 1 of the 2026 NLDS against the Padres, Jackson Chourio was the benefactor of some good luck when a fly ball hit the roof and caromed down into his glove for a key out in the ninth inning. In Game 2, Chourio created his own luck.
Trailing by a run going to the bottom of the ninth inning and facing arguably baseball’s best closer in San Diego’s Mason Miller, the Brewers did what they did so often on the way to winning the World Series -- they chipped away. Christian Yelich walked and stole second base. Sal Frelick walked. Gary Sánchez came off the bench and walked, too, loading the bases for Chourio, one day removed from becoming, at 22 years of age, Milwaukee’s all-time leader in postseason home runs, and two innings removed from grounding out with the bases loaded in the seventh as Miller began to stir.
Given a second opportunity, Milwaukee’s Mr. October got the job done. Miller’s 40th pitch of the outing was a two-out, two-strike fastball. Chourio lined it to center field for a two-run single, and the Brewers’ third walk-off win in the postseason. It was the first time they had trailed going into the inning.
“Seriously, you’re running out of words,” said Brandon Woodruff of the young Chourio. “I guess he could have hit a homer there and that would have made it better. But that was pretty cool right there.”
5) The inaugural opener
April 6, 2001 -- 5-4 win over Reds
There were more important Brewers victories at Miller Park and more dramatic ones, too. But the sense of hope that washed over the new stadium made this one special. Following a bitter fight to secure funding for Miller Park, and a tragic crane collapse in 1999 that resulted in the deaths of three ironworkers and delayed construction by a year, the Brewers opened their new home against the same team that helped close County Stadium -- the Reds.
President George W. Bush and Brewers founder Bud Selig threw ceremonial first pitches before Jeff D’Amico did it for real against Cincinnati leadoff man Barry Larkin. Ronnie Belliard was the first Brewers batter, José Hernández collected the first Brewers hit (a double) and Jeromy Burnitz hit the first Brewers home run. It was a 4-4 game in the bottom of the eighth inning when Richie Sexson delivered the night’s signature moment, a tiebreaking home run that sailed toward Bernie Brewer’s new perch atop the left-field bleachers. When David Weathers pitched a perfect ninth, it was a 5-4 win. After so many tough years, the Brewers looked pretty good.
“Opening Day in any ballpark in any year, no matter how old you get, there are nerves, there is anticipation, but it amplifies when there’s a new stadium,” Sexson said. “It was beautiful. Having the president there, being in a new ballpark and having the city be super excited about it and behind it, it was exciting.
“You always want to win that first home game, too. If you’re building a new stadium, you don’t want to get your butt kicked that first night. So we were all trying really, really hard.”
The next best Miller Park/AmFam Field moments
- Woodruff’s homer off Clayton Kershaw in NLCS Game 1 on Oct. 12, 2018
- Mike Moustakas’ walk-off single in the 10th inning of NLDS Game 1 on Oct. 4, 2018
- Braun’s go-ahead home run in the NL Central clincher on Sept. 23, 2011
- Ben Sheets’ 18-strikeout game against the Braves on May 16, 2004
- Chourio’s tying home run and Garrett Mitchell’s go-ahead, two-run shot to stave off elimination in Game 2 of the NL Wild Card Series on Oct. 2, 2024
- Bill Hall’s walk-off homer with a pink bat on Mother’s Day 2006 against the Mets, and Brice Turang’s walk-off homer with a pink bat on Mother’s Day 20 years later to beat the Yankees
- Braun’s walk-off grand slam to beat the Pirates on Sept. 25, 2008
- Daniel Vogelbach’s pinch-hit walk-off grand slam to beat the Cardinals on Sept. 5, 2021
- Rickie Weeks and Prince Fielder's first career homers in a win over Minnesota on June 25, 2005
- Braun breaks Robin Yount’s franchise record for home runs on Aug. 19, 2015
- Fielder’s “bowling ball” celebration after a walk-off win over the Giants on Sept. 6, 2009
- Yelich hits for the cycle for the second time in three weeks on Sept. 17, 2018
- The 2002 All-Star Game, even though it ended in a tie
- Randall Simon of the Pirates lands in trouble after hitting a Racing Sausage with a bat on July 9, 2003