Brewers manager Pat Murphy should be clear-cut choice for 2024 NL Manger of the Year

Most years, the Milwaukee Brewers having a playoff caliber season wouldn't come as much of a surprise. After all, the team has now managed to claim a spot in the postseason in six of the last seven seasons.

The Milwaukee Brewers making the playoffs in 2024, however, was a surprise to some. There were so many factors working against them coming into this season that most pundits, and let's be honest, a good chunk of the fanbase, thought they might take a step back this year.

One of those factors was a changing of the guard at manager. After leading the Brewers for the better part of nine seasons, hometown kid Craig Counsell handed the reigns over to his long-time bench coach, Pat Murphy.

Murphy was an unknown commodity to many outside of the Brewers fanbase, and even some of those within. Though he had a long and successful managing career at the college level with Arizona State and Notre Dame, his only managing experience at the MLB level was as an interim manager with the Padres in 2015. Since then, he had served as right hand man to Counsell.

Once Counsell left for the rival Cubs, Murphy's interview convinced the front office to give him a chance as the 20th manager in franchise history. But with key changes taking place on the roster and a division that seemed up for grabs, there were questions about just how quickly Murph could be successful in his new position.

Consider those questions answered.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy took the team right back to the playoffs in his first season and should be the obvious choice for NL Manager of the Year.

One probably would've forgiven Murphy if he struggled out of the gate in his first season at the helm of the Brewers. Two of the team's top three starting pitchers of the last few years were missing in Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff. Star closer Devin Williams was starting the year on the IL. There was much more youth and inexperience in the starting lineup than recent years.

And yet, the Brewers didn't struggle out of the gates, they stormed out of it. By the end of April, Murphy would have his team a half game up in the NL Central with a 18-11 record. They wouldn't relinquish their division lead for the rest of the season.

The Brewers would take further hits to the roster in the form of IL stints as the season went on, particularly to the pitching staff. Murph would have to dig deep into the organizational depth, calling upon players like Tobias Myers and Jared Koenig that few thought would be heavy contributors in 2024. In the end, the pitching staff was as dominant as usual, finishing the season with a 3.65 ERA that placed 5th in MLB.

In addition to that, Murphy had the Brewers aggressive on the basepaths again and producing runs at a higher rate than the year before. Milwaukee jumped from 11th in the league in 2023 with 129 steals to 2nd this year with 217. That was just one reason why they were able to increase their offensive output from 4.47 runs per game last season (17th) to 4.80 in 2024 (6th).

By having such a well-rounded team, Murphy was able to have of the most consistent teams in all of baseball. The Brewers were the only team in all of baseball not to have a losing streak of four or more games. They also were the first team to clinch their division after leaving the rest of the NL Central in their dust.

In the past, strong seasons by a Brewers manager ended up being overshadowed by another candidate who would win the award, sometimes by virtue of their team just having many more wins. This year, the Brewers tied for the third best record in the NL at 93-69 and were just five wins behind the leading team, the Dodgers.

Considering what he had to overcome in bringing a team that many thought miss the playoffs entirely to a second straight NL Central title and the fact that he did it as a first year manager, there shouldn't be a doubt in voter's mind. Without a doubt, Pat Murphy should be the 2024 NL Manager of the Year.