The Milwaukee Brewers put together one of the best seasons in the 57-year history of the franchise, winning a team-best 97 games in the regular season to earn the top record in the major leagues, knocking off the rival Chicago Cubs in a tense five-game playoff series, and advancing to the National League Championship Series for just the third time ever.
The playoff journey came to a crushing end, however, with the Brewers being swept by the powerhouse Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS.
After having a few days to reflect on a magical season that nonetheless again came up short of the goal of a trip to the World Series for the first time since 1982, Brewers manager Pat Murphy and president of baseball operations and general manager Matt Arnold spoke with the media at American Family Field on Thursday to discuss the recently completed season while looking forward to the next.
Tell us who you’d pick to be a Betty this year!
“I felt that we did not put our best foot forward in that series, and I think it would have made some difference, but the Dodgers were on it,” Murphy said. “I don’t think the Dodgers are going to play that way every series. It isn’t like they’re that dominant every series, as we’ve proved during the season.”
The Brewers swept six games from the Dodgers during the regular season, but the tide turned in the playoffs.
Murphy said the NL Division Series against the rival Cubs and former manager Craig Counsell left the Brewers slightly spent heading into the NLCS. “The Cubs series just emotionally took so much out of them. It was difficult on the guys.”
The Brewers offense sputtered to a .118 batting average in the NLCS, the lowest in MLB history for any postseason series of at least three games, while a severely depleted and overused pitching staff struggled to contain the Shohei Ohtani-led Dodgers and their $350 million payroll.
Arnold directed the discussion away from economics when asked if they factored in to trying to compete with big-market teams like the Dodgers.
“We’re going to have the resources that we need. We have support from our ownership to put a quality product on the field,” Arnold said. “There are a lot of small-market teams that can’t say that. We can. And then there also are a lot of teams that spent a lot of money that didn’t get in (the playoffs). I don’t think it’s just about the money. The economics of the sport, they are what they are.”
The Brewers have won three consecutive NL Central titles and have qualified for the postseason seven of the past eight seasons, a remarkable accomplishment for the small-market franchise.
Milwaukee’s continued on-field success led the franchise to dole out a promotion to Arnold on Thursday. He adds the title of president of baseball operations to his role as general manager. Arnold credited the team’s ownership group, Murphy and others for the team’s success. “It’s a great situation. I’m proud to be here in Milwaukee.”
The Brewers will head to spring training in February with their sights set once again on a deep playoff run and ideally a trip to the World Series. Milwaukee has made it to the World Series just once in franchise history, losing to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games in 1982.
Offseason work is already underway, with no time to rest, recover and deeply reflect on the long, successful and emotion-filled season.
“Good teams don’t have the luxury of having an off-ramp, and so we’re hitting the ground running on all fronts,” Arnold said. “It’s offseason planning, it’s contracts, it’s getting ready for the general manager meetings coming up in a couple weeks. We’re all systems go. We have not had a chance to come up for air. Honestly, we came home from LA, spent all day on the phone Sunday, and then we were in the office on Monday, ready for the offseason.”
Here’s what Murphy and Arnold had to say regarding several key offseason topics:
On the status of staff ace Freddy Peralta, for whom the Brewers hold an $8 million contract option for 2026 but could consider trade offers:
Arnold: “To be honest, it’s not at the front of my mind. Honestly, it’s something where of course you can never shut the door on anything in our situation. Of course we’ve had to make very tough decisions. And I think that’s part of what we have to do, is make tough decisions to help the long-term view of the franchise. But I can tell you that Freddy means more to that clubhouse than most that I’ve ever been around. He’s a special player on and off the field.”
On expectations for 21-year-old rising star Jackson Chourio, who followed up a tremendous rookie year with another strong season despite battling injuries:
Murphy: “He doubled up on a really fine year. It’s not easy. He dealt midseason with injury, and he still produced. He still showed up in the postseason and in the biggest games of the year. He improved defensively. This guy’s special.”
On Christian Yelich’s expected role next year after mainly serving as the team’s designated hitter this season:
Murphy: “The door is open. He was coming off back surgery, and we wanted to keep him off his feet. He’s an important part. We had enough outfielders. Then (Blake) Perkins was down, so he got a little outfield play in there. This guy is a great athlete. He’s still young and he’s willing to do whatever we ask him.”
On who will serve as closer next season:
Murphy: “I don’t think it has to be a designated closer or anything like that. I think it evolves. Bullpens are so volatile. (Trevor) Megill took a big step forward. He’s really found a home in the big leagues. Same with (Abner) Uribe. He had a lot to show us this year coming off last year’s suspension. Consistency. Work ethic. He did that. We’re pretty fortunate to have two guys. We have to make sure they’re 100% healthy coming in.”
On whether baserunning, a strong suit of the team this season with a roster loaded with young, speedy players, continue to be a focus:
Arnold: “Baserunning’s been a big part of our game for a while here. To Murph’s credit, they’ve put a hyper focus on it. We’ll continue as we work through the offseason to make sure that’s a priority as well. We have a lot of really good athletes, and we want to make sure that they’re successful on the bases.”
Murphy: “Teams know what we do now, so there’s more defense for it. There are more people being hypervigilant about what our potential is there. It’s not as easy to do it when we’ve done it repeatedly and it can be defended. So, it makes it a little bit more difficult to surprise anyone, to get that edge. But it’s how we have to play. We have to beat people in different ways.”
On if the team will continue to cast a wide net in search of pitching:
Arnold: “No question. Even look at a guy like Sammy Peralta, who we just picked up. Probably a little bit different than (rookie sensation) Jacob Misiorowski. We’re going to always cast a pretty wide net. Our coaches deserve a ton of credit for what they do with those guys once they get here.”
On the status of fan favorite and clubhouse leader Brandon Woodruff, who returned from major shoulder surgery but once again missed the playoffs due to yet another injury:
Arnold: “You guys know how much we care about Woody. I sat next to him on the bus on the way home from the airport. He’s been here a long time, and we’ll cross that bridge when we get a little deeper into the offseason, for sure. But I can’t say enough great things about him. When we learned that there was a chance Woody wasn’t going to be part of our postseason, that was maybe the low point for me, honestly. Just how much he meant to this team. That was a big loss for us that we didn’t have him in the postseason. We care about him a lot, and he means a ton to this franchise.”
On who will get the nod at first base next season:
Arnold: “Throughout our conversations we’re going to evaluate every position, and that’s certainly one of them. But I can’t say enough good things about what Andrew Vaughn did and who he was here in the clubhouse. I thought he was awesome to have here. One of the peaks for me was we go down, 3-0 (to the Cubs in Game 2 the NLDS), and he hits that three-run homer. That was awesome.”
The Brewers will open the 2026 regular season against the Chicago White Sox on March 26 at American Family Field, marking the earliest home opener in franchise history.
