MILWAUKEE – Pat Murphy is one of a kind, and now he has the award to prove it.
The Brewers’ baseball-obsessed, 67-year-old, Springsteen-quoting skipper won the BBWAA’s National League Manager of the Year Award for the third time after as many seasons at Milwaukee's helm on Tuesday, making him the first man in either league to win the honor in three straight years since the writers added it to the awards slate in 1983.
2026 MLB Awards (Wednesday, 9 p.m. ET)
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He’s also the first – as far as we know – to accept from a hospital bed. After playing in pain throughout the 2026 season, when he had to postpone knee and hip surgeries because he needed emergency back surgery, Murphy is finally getting his lower body put back together, and so he did Tuesday’s awards show on MLB Network from a bed at Milwaukee’s Froedtert Hospital following a right hip replacement.
If Murphy had his way, this would be an organizational award, and so he credited others first, from ownership to baseball operations officials in what he calls the “ivory tower” to his coaching staff and, of course, Brewers players.
“When the playoffs started, you saw the way they won games, how resilient they were, how they responded to every adversity,” Murphy said. “You just got this feeling, we could be destined to do this."
For Murphy, it’s the capper for a year in which he signed a new three-year contract, led the Brewers to a franchise-record and Major League-best 103 victories during the regular season and then won the World Series – though the latter had nothing to do with this latest honor. Ballots were submitted by 30 BBWAA voters – two in each National League market – prior to the start of the postseason, when Murphy and the Brewers were merely four-time defending NL Central champions, and not yet World Series champions.
Murphy received 20 of 30 first-place votes for his three-peat, beating runner-up Walt Weiss of the Braves and Don Mattingly of the Phillies. Murphy was the only manager to appear on all 30 ballots.
“It’s a constant learning experience,” Murphy said. “You’ve heard my term about how all of us are under construction. That’s real. Those aren’t just words. So, things I’ve learned? One of the things that sticks out to me is you have to have a belief system. You do have to believe. We can all worry about bad outcomes, but can you train your brain to stay in that ‘win tonight’ attitude and not waste time worrying about things you might not control? And have that belief?
“The other thing I’ve learned is you have to trust your players, no matter how young. You have to trust Cooper Pratt. When he senses you trust him, he’s going to play better.”
Murphy trusted his team and his team trusted him back. The baseball writers have noticed at a level rarely seen since this award was introduced.
Here’s more on Murphy’s rare honor:
- Murphy is the 10th manager to win a BBWAA Manager of the Year Award at least three times. Tony La Russa, Bobby Cox and Buck Showalter each won four, and Jim Leyland, Dusty Baker, Lou Piniella, Joe Maddon, Bob Melvin, Terry Francona and Murphy have won three apiece.
- Murphy’s three-peat ties for the most Manager of the Year Awards with a single franchise. Cox (three with the Braves), Baker (three with the Giants) and Francona (three with Cleveland) are with him on that list.
- It’s the ninth time a manager has won the World Series and a Manager of the Year Award in the same season – but Murphy is the first to do so in more than two decades. The others were Ozzie Guillen (2005 White Sox), Jack McKeon (2003 Marlins), Mike Scioscia (2002 Angels), Joe Torre (1998 Yankees and 1996 Yankees), Tom Kelly (1991 Twins), Tommy Lasorda (1988 Dodgers) and Sparky Anderson (1984 Tigers).
Murphy’s mantra remained the same as it’s been for years: “Win tonight.” That’s the last thing Brewers players see before they take the turn from the clubhouse to the field.
“I think Murph does a fantastic job with their team,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said while L.A. was on the way to getting swept by the Brewers in the NLCS. “They play baseball the way it was intended. They value 90 feet. They take extra bases. They defend well. They’re athletic. They prevent runs with really good pitching and then with the defense layered in. They don’t give pitches away. They hit to all fields. And with that, they’re in every game. So how do you combat that?”
He went on to list the ways. Playing just as fundamentally. Applying as much pressure as possible to get the Brewers off their game.
But the Dodgers weren’t able to do it.
Throughout 2026, few teams were.
Murphy’s Brewers became the first team to win 100 games without a winning streak longer than five games during the regular season. They hit the second fewest home runs in the Majors but scored the second most runs, and outscored opponents by 214 runs, best in baseball and a club record, blowing away the previous mark (+174) set by the 1982 American League champion Brewers. And on the pitching side, with veteran Brandon Woodruff sidelined most of the season and Quinn Priester for all of it, Murphy penciled a rookie pitcher as Milwaukee’s starter in 80 of 162 games, the highest percentage in the Majors.
These Brewers didn’t miss a beat.
The initial PECOTA release in February projected 80.5 wins. Murphy & Co. finished the regular season with 103 wins.
“I don’t think we play different than anybody else, I really don’t,” Murphy said. “And I hear it a lot, ‘Oh, I love the way you guys play.’ Well, there’s plenty of days I don’t. Buy-in from players? I think they’re just great dudes that care about each other. I don’t think they’re buying into anything I’m doing. I think they’re buying into each other and buying into winning at a big-time level.
“Regardless of the odds or the adversity or what the scenario is, I think it’s about them. I really do.”