Brewers 3B coach jokingly predicted a ball off the roof in pre-Game 1 meeting

Brewers third base coach Matt Erickson has seen his share of games at American Family Field since joining the Milwaukee coaching staff in 2022. And like everyone else who watched Saturday's Game 1 of the NLDS, he had never seen a baseball hit the stadium's roof in fair territory.

So, of course Erickson predicted that astonishing ordeal before Game 1.

With the Padres down a run in the ninth inning, Ty France thought he gave San Diego the lead when his 105.3 mph fly ball left his bat. But the ball ended up deflecting off the roof over fair territory and fell squarely into Jackson Chourio's glove for the out.

Though there was confusion throughout the stadium in the moment, the very scenario was discussed in the ground rules meeting with the umpires before the game. That was where Erickson jokingly predicted the fluky play.

Erickson said, "Haven't seen it here in six years, so it will happen tonight."

Baseball has a funny habit of working things out that way.