By now, it’s been well documented that the roof at Minute Maid Park can impact games.
It’s become somewhat of a storyline for the Houston Astros and New York Yankees in the ALCS.
The roof was open last night for Game 2 of the series, and a certain Astro seemed to be pretty happy about that.
Catcher Martin Maldonado reached base safely in each of his at-bats in Game 2 against the Yankees.
After the game, during his interview with Jon Morosi of MLB Network, Maldonado expressed just how glad he was that the roof was open for Game 2 of the ALCS.
"I felt it in my heart. I was like, thank god the roof is open today." 😂@jonmorosi is here with Martín Maldonado, who reached base safely in every at-bat tonight as the @astros took a 2-0 lead in the ALCS.#LevelUp | #Postseason pic.twitter.com/4Cq7jmhqjh
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) October 21, 2022
Roof Becomes ALCS Storyline
A roof being opened or closed can affect a baseball game in a number of ways.
Clearly, Maldonado thinks it helped him out in Game 2, and there isn’t much evidence to say that it didn’t.
The 36-year-old catcher picked up a hit last night and managed to score a run on Alex Bregman‘s three-run homer as the Astros held off a Yankees rally to win 3-2 and take a 2-0 lead in the ALCS.
He’s hit .273 thus far in the postseason and has posted a .749 OPS.
But with the difference in air pressure, there’s certainly something to be said for the roof being opened last night in Houston.
Maldonado certainly feels like it helped him out.
Perhaps it helped Bregman out too.
In New York, there won’t be a roof to change the conditions of the game.
Things will be quite a bit different at Yankee Stadium.
The Astros will send Cristian Javier to the mound in hopes of gaining a 3-0 series lead, while the Yankees counter with Gerrit Cole.
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