Cooper Pratt: Brewers Sunday game proceeds amid smoke
No — Sunday's Milwaukee Brewers game against the Miami Marlins will not be postponed because of wildfire smoke or poor air quality. With AccuWeather putting Milwaukee's AQI near 185, Major League Baseball still cleared the series finale at American Family Field to proceed, a key update for fans tracking Brewers news and cooper pratt coverage.
Key Takeaways
- The Brewers-Marlins series finale on Sunday, July 19, will not be postponed due to wildfire smoke.
- Milwaukee's air quality was rated very unhealthy, with AccuWeather citing an AQI near 185.
- Major League Baseball decides smoke-related postponements; an AQI of 200 is an unofficial outdoor-event cutoff.
- American Family Field's roof was open hours before first pitch despite the haze over Milwaukee.
- Only one MLB game in this smoke stretch — Pirates-Guardians on July 17 — had been postponed for air quality.
Will smoke and poor air quality impact Sunday's Brewers game?
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the haze from wildfire smoke settling over Milwaukee is not enough to scrub Sunday's matchup. With about four hours until first pitch, the retractable roof at American Family Field remained open while crews prepped the infield for the series finale.
That decision came even as air quality across Milwaukee and other parts of the Midwest was regarded as very unhealthy. For more viral sports and entertainment updates, browse Celebrity Breaking News on BlasterPost.
How bad is the air quality around American Family Field?
AccuWeather put Milwaukee's air quality index at 185 — just below the 200 level that has become an unofficial marker for canceling major outdoor events. The AQI was expected to stay in the very unhealthy range through the day before easing into the unhealthy range by evening.
MLB holds the authority on whether smoke forces a postponement. Heading into Sunday, the only big-league contest postponed in this Canadian wildfire smoke wave was the July 17 Pirates-Guardians game in Cleveland, where the AQI started at 211 and was forecast to worsen.
Could closing the roof fix the smoke problem?
Not really. The Journal Sentinel noted that closing the roof and panels would not meaningfully improve air quality inside American Family Field, especially if the stadium does not run its heating system. With a relatively comfortable high near 79 degrees on July 19, turning on the heat was not an option.
Postponements of Brewers home games are already rare because of the retractable roof. Past delays include a 2001 power-outage stoppage and the 2020 home-opening series after COVID-19 cases hit the visiting Cardinals — not smoke.
What did MLB and local reports say about playing through the haze?
Local outlets covering the same Marlins series amid the air-quality alert likewise reported MLB green-lighting play. TMJ4 and WKOW reported the Friday night game also went on as scheduled after MLB notified the club, with first pitch at 6:40 p.m. and a ticket-exchange option for fans who preferred not to attend that night.
Sunday's bottom line for cooper pratt searchers and Brewers followers is the same theme: smoke made the air rough, but the series finale was still set to be played.