NL WILD CARD SERIES: METS VS BREWERS

October 1, 2024

Pat Murphy

American Family Field

Milwaukee Brewers

Pregame Press Conference

Q. Murph, can you just talk about how good it's going to be to have Sal available and just kind of walk us through the decision-making process there?

PAT MURPHY: It's a credit to Sal and our medical staff getting him ready. He took an unbelievable -- we've all seen Sal run into walls and do whatever, and he pops right up. The fact that he didn't get up and he couldn't -- he walked off the field himself, but once he got into the dugout, he had to be carried.

I thought there's no way he'd play. Fortunately, it was nothing structural, and he's going to play through it. He's that guy. So it's a great feeling, and I think it will be a big lift to the ball club knowing that that's at the core of this whole thing.

Q. How limited is Sal going to be?

PAT MURPHY: We hope not at all. Yesterday I wouldn't say he looked 100 percent, but he was moving. I was shocked at how good he was moving. They feel like he'll be a step more today, and that's the only reason he's in there. If we see that he isn't, then we'll pull him out of there.

Q. Is he in the lineup or is he going to come off the bench?

PAT MURPHY: Have you not seen the lineup yet?

Q. I've not seen the lineup. No one has.

PAT MURPHY: A lot of you have, right? You kept it from Adam until later.

(Laughter).

Yeah, he's in the lineup.

Q. What about putting your bullpen together with the three lefties and Bryan Hudson not being on there and how you want it to match up with the Mets?

PAT MURPHY: The Mets are a great offensive lineup, but they don't feature as many left-handed pockets for us. So we went with a different set of guys that are more right-handed favorable.

We still have our share of lefties for certain moments. So that's what went into the thinking. If we were playing a different team like the Diamondbacks, for instance, I'm confident that Milner and Hudson would have been on.

Q. You had said, even from Spring Training, you all were going to be aggressive on the base pads and steal often. How much of that is your philosophy personally, and how much of that is just the talent you have on this roster?

PAT MURPHY: I don't have any certain philosophy necessarily about it. I just think -- I've said this a lot. Offensively, it's not just hitting. You have to do a little bit of everything. You have to be able to beat teams in different ways, if appropriate.

There's nothing more powerful than the home run, but if you don't have that set of ballplayers that do that often, then you've got to make other ways to win. So I think that's where it kind of grew from.

Q. A lot of people will be watching the Brewers who maybe haven't keyed in on them the whole year, but they know Yelich, and they know Burnes and some of the guys you've lost. What are the biggest reasons you can make up for such big absences and still be here and really run away with the division the way you did?

PAT MURPHY: What were the reasons?

Q. Yeah.

PAT MURPHY: The dudes in the room, man. They're just a bunch of competitive guys that were not going to be denied. They wanted the opportunity to compete.

You got guys like Adames and Contreras and Rhys Hoskins and those guys, and some of the pitching staff, Devin Williams and Peralta, you've got those guys, they led the younger guys into just believing we're going to play, win tonight, and we're going to live it.

So I think that's the reason we got through the regular season the way we did.

Q. Having just played the Mets over the weekend, what impact does that have on the dynamic of this series?

PAT MURPHY: I think it brings it closer together, like they know us, we know them. What they did yesterday is significant. They had to go there and win. Fly all night, whatever, go there and show up and beat a really good pitcher, really good team, and win, and they did it Game 1.

I think that injects a tremendous amount of confidence into a team that's been as good as anybody in the second half. I think -- like I said from the beginning, I wasn't going to worry about who we're going to play, but I think the Mets are really, really good.

Q. The way they played Sunday in particular -- getting on base, being aggressive with the steals, looked a little like how you guys play. Did that strike you at all, that tone Sunday, versus the previous two days?

PAT MURPHY: No, I think they knew what was at stake Sunday, and they knew we were in a different situation on Sunday, and they knew they could take advantage.

But they have that personnel. When you've got guys, Nimmo and Taylor and Marte and Bader, those guys, Lindor obviously, those guys are really super talented. Those are sought after -- they have a team full of stars, you know what I mean? That's why they're so scary because they're a team full of great players.

You see Lindor's at-bat in the ninth, that's indicative of what's in that dude. He's special.

Q. What do you think about facing off against a team led by David Stearns?

PAT MURPHY: What do I think about it? I'm glad he's here. That's kind of fun. He can see some old friends.

I don't look at it that way. That's not -- it's our players on the field versus their players on the field. I don't look at it deeper than that. I know David Stearns from being lucky enough to work with him for the last eight years, I guess, or parts of eight years. He's a terrific man, and he's a great decision-maker. I have great respect for him.

Q. Kind of building off the previous question, obviously I think it was brought up to you yesterday, the importance of these openers. What is your message to this team heading into Game 1 against, as you said, a very good Mets team?

PAT MURPHY: I think we've been playing playoff baseball every day, trying to survive every day, and we're still trying to survive. This is how we've done it. Nobody expected us to be here, but we kind of started to realize, if we play this way, we're going to be okay.

So I think we're in survival mode all the time, and it's kind of similar to playoff baseball.

Q. Murph, you've said don't compare this team to past teams, and all the guys we've talked to all agree there's a different vibe. Do you think the guys in the room, a little bit of win tonight, a little bit of you, how do you think you've all come to the conclusion that there is a different vibe to this team, maybe even versus last year?

PAT MURPHY: That's a good question. I truly believe that every team is different, you know what I mean? Like 2025 has to be different. 2024 is its own entity. I believe traditions are for other people to talk about.

The only tradition those guys in the room need to worry about is 2024, you know what I mean? That's it. If you played with a guy in 2023, that was part of that year, and we just take these individual years as they are and let somebody else build the tradition. We're part of that year, you know what I mean? And if we're part of more than one, each one of them to me is an individual memory.

So I don't say that to slight last year's team or the team the year before, just merely to say that this team is different.

Q. On the roster again, you have a large number of pitchers who can give you multiple innings, including like the four guys we would call starters.

Do you have any of those guys that you're going to plan to use in relief situations and others that you want to hold for starting games?

PAT MURPHY: Another check out the moment type thing. We have guys prepared for different sessions. So God forbid a pitcher on either of our teams goes out in the first inning and has an injury, you've got to be prepared for that. Guy goes out and doesn't pitch well, you've got to be prepared for that right away with a guy probably with some length, you know, or the ability to have some length.

So those things are baked in there, and it's based on the scenario. Extra innings now, we don't have the ghost runner at second. So you might have an 18-inning game. That's how that kind of worked out.

Q. I know these are all tough decisions putting this roster together. Was there anyone that you left off that was just a really tough decision to make?

PAT MURPHY: There's more than one guy like that. When you think about the achievements of Hudson, what he did for our team this year, or the achievements of Milner, what he did for our team this year, those are two tough ones.

But they could be on the next roster if we're lucky enough to move forward.

Q. On that note, when you look at a guy like Hudson, you explained why lefty matchups don't really work out for this series and he could be on the next.

PAT MURPHY: As many, yes.

Q. And he could be in the future series as well. But just when you look at him and the numbers, the raw numbers he had, is there a little bit of a weird feeling like this guy's not on the roster?

PAT MURPHY: Yeah, absolutely. More than a weird feeling. Like that was like wow. How that all transpired, the whole thing, yeah, it's -- but there's a lot behind it. There's a lot to it. Hard one. Colin Rea too, let's be honest, look what this guy has done. He's part of the fabric here. We haven't designated him as one of the pillars, but if you ask the players in there, everyone believes in him, trusts in him, and follows his lead. So that's a tough one.