For those in the Los Angeles world, Pat Murphy is a bit rare.
Throughout the early stages of the NLCS, the Milwaukee Brewers captain consistently called his team a gutsy underdog going up against essentially every powerhouse, the .
Murphy needs to understand that the current controversy surrounding Milwaukee’s Average Joes will not apply to the .
Manager Dave Roberts was asked if he thought the team could somehow ignore the Brewers. Unsurprisingly, Roberts dismissed the idea and spoke about his relationship with Murphy. Murphy is a guy who coached in San Diego when he was with the Padres.
“No, you don’t have to worry about it at all. That’s Murph’s personality. He tries to get into the psyche, he says things against the team in the clubhouse, behind closed doors. So we know what he’s doing. He’s going to get his guys ready.”
“But no, we’re ready. We’re playing good baseball and we expect the same from them. And once the game starts, all the talk doesn’t really count.”
A story about a flashy, star-studded team from Los Angeles facing a fractious underdog team from the Midwest draws natural comparisons. Los Angeles has the second-highest salary in the league ($321,287,291), while the Brewers rank 23rd ($115,136,227).
While this statistic may promote a David vs. Goliath narrative, there are some other facts that don’t really align with this idea.
For example, the Brewers have won the most games in all of baseball this season and are the No. 1 overall seed in the National League. Christian Yelich is a former MVP and three-time All-Star William Contreras is one of the best catchers in the game.
Jackson Cholio and Sal Frelich are two of the best young outfielders in the sport. Freddy Peralta leads the National League in wins. Trevor Megill (All-Star), Jacob Misiorowski (All-Star), Abner Uribe, Aaron Ashby, and Jared Koenig make up perhaps the best bullpen in Major League Baseball.
More interestingly, the Brewers were 6-0 against the in the regular season.
So even if Murphy tries to control the narrative, the Brewers are extremely talented and are not a team that Los Angeles will take lightly under any circumstances. However, the are reluctant to discuss that topic as they hold a commanding 2-0 lead in the series.
Photo credit: Aarron Doster-IMAGN IMAGES
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