Brewers' Pat Murphy speaks out after being named NL Manager of the Year

It’s a three-peat for Milwaukee Brewers skipper Pat Murphy.

Tuesday night marked the third consecutive year that he was named the National League Manager of the Year. Murphy was in a hospital bed when he learned he had won the top prize. He had hip surgery the previous day.  

Murphy is also the 10th manager to win the award three or more times and the first to do so in three consecutive seasons. 

Murphy received 20 first-place votes and 124 points from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, while Atlanta Braves skipper Walt Weiss finished second with seven first-place votes and 86 points. Philadelphia Phillies manager Don Mattingly finished third with 25 points. Murphy is the only manager to be named on all ballots.

While he is thankful, Murphy was reluctant to talk about himself. He said the award should be dedicated to the organization. He credited everybody from the front office to the players and his coaching staff.

Pat Murphy gives players, organization their flowers

"It’s a reflection of what our team has done,” Murphy said in a conference call. "First and foremost, it’s about the players — hungry players — that are willing to live up to certain standards and have the focus and awareness about winning.

"You have to think about (general manager) Matt Arnold and his crew and how hard they work to assemble a team. You can’t leave out the ownership. You just can’t. They run it like a family. …  These people are committed."   

The 2026 season saw Murphy at his best — even better than the last two years when he was named the top skipper. Murphy guided the Brewers to their first 100-win season and the franchise’s first World Series title when the team defeated the Tampa Bay Rays in five games last month.

Murphy had a feeling he had a championship club dating back to August. The Brewers were swept in a three-game series against the San Diego Padres. The Brewers were only three games ahead of the Cubs on Aug.12. 

Then Milwaukee faced the Dodgers in Los Angeles and took three out of four games and never looked back, winning the National League Central by 14 games over the Cubs before going 11-2 in the postseason and winning it all for the city of Milwaukee.

"San Diego was hot and had a good ballclub. And we responded against the Dodgers with a team that was really banged up,” Murphy remembered. “We played Gary Sanchez at first, Jonathan Ornelas at second, Andrew Vaughn at third and Jake Bauers in the outfield.

"We won three out of four there. That was a little bit of an indication (that made me say), ‘These guys just bounced back.’ Then towards the end of September, you look at it and you say, ‘Wow, we really had a tough schedule according (to the media) who studies it. But we played pretty consistently.”

The way Murphy was talking, he is already thinking about next year. There is still room for improvement, he believes. 

“I just know I have work to do and I have to be better,” Murphy said. “I’ll have new challenges next year. Hopefully, the results are team wins. You get a chance to be recognized, but that is not something I look forward to. It’s not something I plan out. Personal recognition in my career is not the important thing. It’s to try to do good for the game and impact as many people as you can. … It’s not about me. It’s about serving others.”          

All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.