Does Pat Murphy already have a spot on the Mount Rushmore of Brewers managers?

It got a little lost in the news cycle thanks to the Milwaukee Brewers' six-game skid, but by winning the series finale against the Toronto Blue Jays, Pat Murphy became just the eighth skipper in franchise history to record 200 regular-season wins.

That's an impressive milestone, even if he remains more than 500 wins away from his predecessor's total (Craig Counsell, 707). Assuming the Brewers live up to expectations this year and compete for another NL Central title, Murphy should be able to move up to seventh on the franchise's all-time list before the 2026 regular season ends, as he's roughly 70 shy of Del Crandall (271).

Having already been rewarded with an extension that will keep him in town through 2028, the real question is how much further he'll climb on the Brewers' all-time manager power rankings.

In just over two years, Pat Murphy has already established himself as one of the best managers in Brewers history

If we're building out a Mount Rushmore of Brewers managers, we have to start (unfortunately) with Counsell, who presided over one of the most successful decades in franchise history.

Not only do his 707 managerial wins pace the field by a country mile -- second place is Phil Garner, who just recently passed away, with 563 -- but Counsell won three division titles, made two more playoff appearances via the Wild Card, and coached the team to a near-World Series berth in 2018. His betrayal with the Chicago Cubs absolutely stains the memories we have, but there's no denying the success he had as the Brewers' skipper.

Other options to include among our group of luminaries include Garner, who ranks second in wins and seasons managed (eight); Ned Yost, who won 457 games but never a division title; Ron Roenicke, who brought the team to their first championship series in 29 years in 2011; George Bamberger, whose two-stint tenure sandwiched the Brewers' run of success in the early '80s; and, of course, Harvey Kuenn, who was the skipper during the team's lone trip to the Fall Classic in 1982. Buck Rodgers, who led the Brewers to their first postseason berth in 1981, and Tom Trebelhorn, who racked up 422 wins in the late 80's, certainly deserve mentions as well.

However, if you're going to narrow it down to the top four, as the term "Mount Rushmore" suggests, Murphy might already deserve a spot on the list. Murphy's only coached two seasons and ranks behind all of those managers (except Kuenn and Rodgers) in wins, but he also has the advantage in perhaps an even more important stat: win percentage. At .586, he stands alone atop the mountain in that regard, ahead of every single full-time and interim manager the Brewers have ever had.

Murphy is also the only Brewers manager to win a Manager of the Year Award (though Kuenn won the Associated Press' AL Manager of the Year Award in 1981 before the modern award was established), and he's done so twice, in back-to-back years no less. He also has the second-most division titles behind Counsell, with two, and is one of just four managers to reach the Championship Series.

For now, he's certainly behind Counsell, and most would still have him behind Kuenn, simply because of the World Series appearance, but there's definitely an argument to be made that Murphy has been more successful than every other Brewers' manager. Renicke's tenure, though it included the excellent season in 2011, could be seen as disappointing because the Brewers didn't return to the postseason in the years following despite having the roster to do so.

And if postseason berths mean anything, Murphy is already outpacing Yost, Bamberger, Rodgers, and Trebelhorn. Sure, others have had longer tenures, but the argument is who has been the most successful, and all Murphy's done is win during his two years at the helm. At this rate, by the time Murphy's contract ends in 2028, he may be the indisputable best skipper the organization has ever had.

If that's a title he wants, it certainly wouldn't hurt his case to get this team back to the World Series. Just saying.

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