A day before a legislative hearing on a plan to fund major stadium repairs at American Family Field, the Milwaukee Brewers face a major on-field challenge.
They now have to win Wednesday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks or fail to advance in the Major League Baseball playoffs.
Then, if the Brewers win Wednesday, they have to do so again on Thursday.
That's because the Brewers lost Game 1 of their National League Wild Card series Tuesday night, 6-3.
The Diamondbacks homered three times against a top Brewers starting pitcher, Corbin Burnes, and scored twice late against ace reliever Devin Williams.
Brewers Manager Craig Counsell acknowledged that going into Wednesday evening's Game 2 of the series, his team has its back against the wall.
"You faced adversity, and we've got to respond to it. It's as simple as that. We've just got to come out and play a good game," Counsell told reporters Tuesday night.
Just hours before, the Brewers upper management had talked about how helpful it is to be in the playoffs, as state legislators and Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, try to reach a final deal on stadium maintenance that would also extend the team's lease 20 years to 2050.
Principal owner Mark Attanasio said he's optimistic about an agreement.
"We've actually had really good receptivity — bipartisan receptivity, and I think that's because this has been a model public-private partnership for 20 years. We could point to any number of examples in other cities where it didn't work. We don't need to do that, other than to point to all the successes here. I'm very happy we can keep baseball in Milwaukee until 2050, if this all works out," Attanasio told the news media before Tuesday's game.
There are some people in the Milwaukee area who don't want another public dollar spent on the Brewers, and others who want more payback to the public for helping fund the building and upkeep of the baseball stadium.
All sides will get a chance to make their points Thursday at 11 a.m. at State Fair Park, during a state Assembly committee hearing on a $600 million GOP proposal for stadium maintenance.
