Pat Murphy officially secures shot at MLB history as awards season begins

Major League Baseball's 2026 season has officially come to a close with the Milwaukee Brewers hoisting the Commissioner's Trophy as the World Series champions. As Brewers fans continue to celebrate what was truly an incredible postseason run, the rest of the baseball world's attention has turned to the offseason, in which MLB's anticipated lockout starting the night of December 1 is expected to create a busy month of November. However, before the offseason gets into full swing, there's one more season that needs to take place: awards season.

MLB's end-of-season awards will be handed out over the course of the next two weeks. Starting on Friday, with the announcement of MLB's Platinum Glove Awards, and continuing to November 17, when the Silver Slugger winners will be announced on FanSided's own "The Baseball Insiders" podcast and YouTube show, MLB's awards season will continue shining a spotlight on the Brewers' memorable 2026 campaign.

The Brewers have a finalist for four of the five major end-of-season awards. Brice Turang was named an NL MVP finalist, Jacob Misiorowski is unsurprisingly a finalist for the league's Cy Young Award, Trevor Megill earned a nod for the Trevor Hoffman NL Reliever of the Year Award, and skipper Pat Murphy is once again a finalist for the Manager of the Year Award.

Of the group, Murphy is the only one who has been nominated for his respective award in years past. In fact, Murphy won the NL Manager of the Year Award in both 2024 and 2025 -- his first two seasons as the Brewers' manager -- and has a chance to make history this year. While Murphy is currently one of four skippers to win back-to-back Manager of the Year Awards, no manager in MLB history has ever earned the honor three years in a row.

Pat Murphy is the clear front-runner to win a record-breaking third consecutive NL Manager of the Year Award

Truly, the only argument against Murphy winning the Manager of the Year Award again this year is voter fatigue, and that's about the worst justification not to vote for a deserving candidate. Murphy not only guided the Brewers to an MLB-best 103 wins during the regular season (and 11 more during the postseason, though that doesn't factor into the voting process), but he did so after his roster was picked to win anywhere from 80-85 games. If the projection models and national media outlets are going to continue disrespecting the Brewers during the offseason, it must be made up for by Murphy winning the Manager of the Year Award after his team inevitably outperforms their expectations.

Murphy navigated a young roster, an inexperienced pitching staff, early-season injuries to three key offensive contributors, and enduring much of the season without top rotation options Quinn Priester and Brandon Woodruff. From benching players when they didn't meet the high standards of the Milwaukee Brewers to pulling pitchers in the middle of at-bats when they weren't doing their job, Murphy's managerial style is unique, but incredibly effective.

The Brewers' skipper is not one to get caught up in individual awards, especially those bestowed upon himself. Murph's lone goal each year is to win as many baseball games as possible, and all of the other accolades will fall into place. Well, fallen into place they have for the Brewers' manager in each of his first two seasons at the helm, and it looks all but certain that trend will continue this year. With what looks like a record-breaking three Manager of the Year Awards in three consecutive seasons, it's clear the Brewers made the right choice by hiring Murphy to succeed Craig Counsell as their skipper ahead of the 2024 campaign.

MLB will officially announce the winner of the Manager of the Year Awards on the night of Tuesday, November 10.

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