Looking Back on Pat Murphy's first two seasons after his recent contract extension

It never really felt like the Milwaukee Brewers would let their incredibly successful and popular manager, Pat Murphy, enter the 2026 season as a "lame duck" skipper. However, as the offseason dragged on and Murphy still hadn't agreed to a contract extension, worry started to set in that maybe the 67-year-old Murphy would call it a career after his final season under contract in 2026.

Those concerns were alleviated when Murphy agreed to a new three-year contract -- one that effectively adds two more years to his previous contract -- in late February. With a club option for the 2029 season, Murphy could remain in Milwaukee for a sixth season, but that bridge will be crossed when Murph and the Brewers get there.

The decision to extend Murphy was an easy one for the Brewers; all Milwaukee's former bench coach has done is become one of two managers to win Manager of the Year in each of his first two full seasons as the skipper of an MLB team. Murph would be the only manager to accomplish the feat if Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt hadn't also won Manager of the Year in each of the last two seasons -- his first two as the head man in Cleveland's dugout.

But if you ask Murphy, he certainly won't say that his biggest accomplishment in Milwaukee over these past two years has been his two NL Manager of the Year trophies. In reality, the ever-grateful Murph would likely mention the culture that he and his coaching staff have cultivated in Milwaukee as his greatest accomplishment as a manager. However, it's hard to ignore some of the many impressive things that Murphy and his team have accomplished on the field in just two short years.

Pat Murphy's two-year resume as the Brewers' manager is filled with impressive accomplishments

Murphy took over for his former boss, Craig Counsell, during the midst of the Golden Age of baseball in Milwaukee. After four-straight playoff appearances from 2018-2021 and another one in 2023, Murphy had high expectations to live up to when he assumed the role prior to the 2024 campaign.

In his first season, the new Brewers' skipper was asked to weather the storm of losing ace Corbin Burnes in the offseason while navigating a young roster that included players like Jackson Chourio, Joey Ortiz, Brice Turang, and Sal Frelick who were all finding their footing in MLB. Murphy expertly handled Chourio's slow start to the season, electing to keep him on the big league roster, but optimizing his matchups to instill confidence in his young star, which ultimately led to a second-half breakout. Murph's confidence-instilling superpower also helped Turang become the player the Brewers knew he was capable of becoming, after his manager predicted the "quantum leap" that the second-year infielder ultimately ended up taking.

Though hardly anyone picked them to win the division in 2024, Murphy led the Brewers to an NL Central title in his first season as the skipper, earning a postseason matchup against the New York Mets in the Wild Card round. Murphy delivered the Brewers' first playoff win since the 2021 season, and came within three outs of collecting Milwaukee's first postseason series win since the 2018 campaign. Unfortunately, that didn't end up happening, but rather than let the loss linger, Murphy and his squad returned with a vengeance in 2025.

After losing Willy Adames and Devin Williams during the offseason, the Brewers once again were not the popular choice to win the NL Central in 2025. However, Murphy couldn't care less about preseason projections, and in response to the doubt, he led his team to an MLB-best 97 wins. During the regular season, the Brewers became just the 10th team since 1969 to have multiple double-digit winning streaks, the second of which became a new franchise-record 14-game streak. The Brewers' 2025 regular season will forever be cemented as the most successful in franchise history -- 97 wins was a franchise record as well -- but Murphy and his team didn't want just regular season success in 2025; they wanted a deep postseason run.

For the first time in seven years, the Brewers won a postseason series and advanced to the National League Championship Series. However, they didn't just win a playoff series; they defeated their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, in a drama-filled five-game NLDS that will go down as one of the most memorable in franchise history. With Murphy defeating his predecessor, and the Brewers getting over the playoff hump that had plagued them since 2018, the team clearly built off of their skipper's first season at the helm with an even more impressive 2025 season.

In just two short years, the Murphy-led Brewers have produced countless memorable moments, and that's not even including Murph's constant off-the-field antics that make him one of the most likable figures in the sport. It's clear that the Brewers made the right call two years ago when turning to Murphy to lead their team going forward, and now the organization and fans have the benefit of watching at least three more seasons of "Murphy ball" in Milwaukee.