Pat Murphy's post-sweep dig at Dodgers' 'Hall of Famers' rings tremendously hollow

The so-called "underdog" Milwaukee Brewers, who nobody believed in, swept the Los Angeles Dodgers during the NLCS to clinch their second World Series berth in franchise history, and the first since 1982.

Never mind the fact that the Brewers had the best record in baseball the last two seasons; this scrappy team of "gamers" went up against a bunch of first ballot Hall of Famers and shocked the world! At least, that's the narrative Brewers manager Pat Murphy wants proclaim.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy leans too hard into the underdog role following NLCS sweep of the Dodgers

Murphy said a version of: "They've got a bunch of Hall of Famers. We got a bunch of gamers," twice after the Brewers' Game 4 win. He said it on the on-field podium in front of Dodgers fans (which received a smattering of boos), and again in the clubhouse right before his team popped champagne bottles.

On the surface, Murphy's sentiments that his team of Davids slayed the giant Goliath is fair. You have the big-market Los Angeles versus the small-market Milwaukee angle, the payroll discrepancies, the postseason losses to the Dodgers in 2025, 2020 and 2018, sure.

But the underdog narrative for a team that has the best record in all of baseball since 2024 (293-193) feels way too over-the-top. A casual baseball fan might have viewed the Brewers beating the Dodgers in the NLCS as a massive upset, but more fans who are in tune know that the Brewers should have made the World Series based on how both teams were playing leading up to the NLCS.

The "Hall of Famers" in question were not playing well for months leading up to their postseason exit. Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, and Mookie Betts all struggled to put up any time of offense during the postseason as a whole, and especially during the NLCS.

Nobody is going to blame the Brewers and Murphy for having a chip on their shoulder, it's just incredibly misleading to refer to his team as nothing more than "a bunch of gamers." Milwaukee has the likely NL Cy Young winner in Jacob Misiorowski, a budding superstar in Jackson Chourio, a potential future Hall of Famer themselves in Christin Yelich, and perhaps the best offensive catcher in baseball, William Contreras. The Brewers have showed for many years that they are a top-three organization in the entire sport. Find a new slant, Pat.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow