Milwaukee Brewers’ Pat Murphy is easy to appreciate.
The National League pennant race isn’t over. Far from it. With the Brewers down 2–0 as the series shifts to Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Thursday, if the MLB universe has learned one thing about Murphy’s crew in 2025, to expect the unexpected from them.
Murphy, after just completing his second season managing the Brewers, with consecutive National League Central titles as a result of his strategizing, remained a pillar of composure in the dugout on Tuesday right up until the final out. It’s the process that Murphy employed this past spring training in Phoenix that continues to carry on with Milwaukee in October.
Forget that the Brewers are one of the five MLB franchises never to have won a World Series championship. This statistic is probably furthest from Murphy’s mind as his club flew to the West Coast. Winning Thursday, taking the series now one game at a time, so the clubs could return to Milwaukee’s American Family Field for Game 6 on Monday is Murphy’s mission.
Currently the oldest MLB skipper, Murphy, 66, came to “The Show” a little later in his career than the path a majority of today’s managers do. In his two years guiding the Brewers, all Murphy has to show for his work is consecutive National League Central championships, and last season, he was selected as the 2024 National League Manager of the Year. Besting the Chicago Cubs, prior to the NLCS with the Dodgers, in five games, the National League Division Series provided an extra kick for Murphy.
Prior to being named Milwaukee’s manager, Murphy served eight seasons with the club as a coach on Craig Counsell’s staff. As bench coach, Murphy had an up close seat on how to handle all the nuances popping up in the dugout during a game.
Two years back, when Counsell took the Chicago Cubs manager’s job, Murphy was moved up a peg in the leadership staff, as he was named Counsell’s successor. But, the Murphy–Counsell connection goes a level deeper than Brewers-Cubs. During Murphy’s seven seasons leading the University of Notre Dame’s baseball program, Counsell for four years played played for the future Brewer’s skipper.
Seven seasons with the Fighting Irish, Murphy’s record of 318–116–1 was nothing less than spectacular. With 15 seasons leading the Arizona State University baseball program, after his time at South Bend, Ind., Murphy’s teams produced an attention-getting 629–284–1 record.
With such overwhelming success on the collegiate level, MLB officials took notice. Paying his dues to manage for five seasons in the minor leagues, including where Murphy collected two first place finishes while leading the Eugene (Oregon) Emeralds in the Northwest League, he was welcomed next to the big leagues level.
Murphy’s presence in Los Angeles this week came from listening, learning, and absorbing the best practices from all facets of an MLB club. The 5–1 loss in Milwaukee on Tuesday to the Dodgers and the 2–1 defeat on Monday isn’t anything Murphy’s crew can’t overcome. In August, Milwaukee put together a 14-game winning streak. Down by two games in a best-of-seven series has all the makings of another Brewers patching together of victories.
Then there’s the lighter side of Murphy, a native of Syracuse, New York, that has players from clubs not wearing Milwaukee uniforms being amused by him. This past season, Murphy publicly displayed his fascination for pancakes. During Apple TV’s “Friday Night Baseball” telecast on Aug. 1, on the road at Nationals Park, while being interviewed during the game by field reporter Tricia Whitaker, Murphy didn’t hesitate to break open a packet of pocket-size pancakes. During the conversation from the dugout, Murphy shared his favorite food with Whitaker, even offering syrup to top off the pancakes.
Now, at Dodger Stadium, the home team proudly pushes their Dodger Dogs, 10-inch wieners in a steamed bun. In Milwaukee, fans too can claim American Family Field’s favorite cuisine on Sunday—Murph’s Pocket Pancakes—with maple syrup as an option, of course.
Murphy is no sideshow for entertainment purposes only. Quite the contrary. The Brewers’ skipper is an old-school, hard-nosed baseball veteran who never seems to not have his eye on the prize. Staring down at Game 3 in Los Angeles is the only prize right now Murphy is focused on. A game at a time, nothing less. The Brewers are down but certainly not out of the NLCS, not with Murphy on the job.
