Teams to drop the first two games in a best-of-seven series at home are only 3-25 all-time, good for a paltry 12% winning percentage. This is the situation the Milwaukee Brewers find themselves in against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but don’t tell Pat Murphy – or his 10-year-old son, Austin – the odds.
While the Brewers manager is doing what he can to make sure his team is retaining belief that it can flip the series on its head at Dodger Stadium against baseball’s ultimate juggernaut beginning with Game 3 on Oct. 16, it was Austin Murphy who may have rallied the troops the best during their off-day workout in Los Angeles.
Murphy’s two youngest sons, Austin and Jaxon, are regulars on the podium with him for postgame interviews. This time, though, Austin was asked a question during his dad’s media session Oct. 15: What do the Brewers have to do to get out of this 2-0 deficit?
Pat Murphy’s 10 year old son Austin was asked a question in today’s presser about why the Brewers can erase a 2-0 deficit.
“The guys respond back really good,” he said.
You’ll want to watch as he nails the full answer: pic.twitter.com/6qoxYIa069
— Curt Hogg (@CyrtHogg) October 15, 2025
“Just stick with it and keep battling through it,” Austin said without hesitation. “I think they can do it. I believe they can do it.”
Then came the follow up of why?
“Well, the guys respond back really good,” he said. “Started the season 0-4. Those games were not good. But then they responded with the best record in baseball. So I believe they can do it.”
Austin wasn’t the only Murphy with some words for the Brewers, though.
When players returned to the Dodger Stadium visiting clubhouse after their on-field workout, on on a chair in front of each of their lockers was a printed-out message from the skipper.
“I know the road feels steep right now,” it read. “But if anyone was built for this climb, it’s you. You’ve done this with grit and grace, and a fire that doesn’t flicker when the winds pick up.
Murphy continued with that theme before wrapping up with a dose of inspiration.
“This isn’t really about baseball,” it finished. “It’s about ‘Us.’ Nobody I’d rather continue with. You have climbed bigger mountains.”
The letter, fittingly was capped with a Brewers watermark and signed, simply, ‘Murph.’
“There’s times for (silence) and there’s times for this reminder,” Brewers right-hander Brandon Woodruff said. “We’re professionals. We understand the job at hand, but sometimes you need it. Sometimes you need a pick-me-up. It doesn’t happen very much. It’s rare. But sometimes you do need that wake up call.”
This isn’t the first time Murphy has used notes at each player’s locker to send a message. Motivational methods vary beyond that with Murphy, too. He held two team meetings before the calendar turned to June and is known for bringing in guests from various walks of life, ranging from mental skills experts to football players to Dustin Pedroia, to speak to his team during spring training.
This time, though, his players received his own words.
“It’s encouraging and it’s from the heart,” Murphy said. “It’s like, you speak to them and sometimes your words, your voice, they’ve heard it so much for the last nine months. Sometimes it’s better to not use your voice and just jot down a little something simple that they can read in 30 seconds.
“It’s from the heart. It’s like, ‘Hey, greatness is formed from stuff like this.’ This is more of an opportunity than anybody knows. If I was to tell this group after the 0-4 start (to the season) with the worst run differential in baseball history, if I was to tell them, ‘Hey, you’re four games from the World Series,’ you’d take it.
“Whatever that mountain is, we’ll take it. Now let’s get to work. Whatever has happened in the past has happened in the past. Let’s roll. This is the best group to go through it with because they’ve had a special fiber all year long, so I’m pretty confident.”
Outfielder Sal Frelick, one of the first players back in the clubhouse from the workout, appreciated the note.
“It’s going to be tough, but at the same time we’re not just going to roll over,” Frelick said.
The way pitching coach Chris Hook, who’s tasked with his own challenge of navigating an all-hands-on-deck approach with a group of taxed pitchers, sees it, Murphy is striking the right chords this time of year.
“I think he does a really good job of pushing the buttons of who we are and how we’ve done it,” Hook said. “That’s the best way to do it. You know where everybody in this room is as far as health or energy level or whatever the case may be. But it’s just, you got more in the tank than you think you do. These elements bring out the best. We know the people in this room can get the job done. It’s a reminder that it’s right in front of them.
“We’re still right there. We’re four (expletive) wins from the World Series.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: As Brewers trail in NLCS, inspiration comes from Pat Murphy’s son
