NL DIVISION SERIES: CUBS VS BREWERS

October 8, 2025

Pat Murphy

Wrigley Field

Milwaukee Brewers

Pregame 3 Press Conference

Q. Could you give us the reasoning, the thinking behind going Lockridge and Bauers in those two spots?

PAT MURPHY: Yeah, I put a lot of time into it, got a lot of research into it. But yeah, both of those guys are playing great. Lockridge deserves a chance, and it gives us some flexibility in the middle of the game. You don't feel like the starter is going to go that far, we still have weapons in the middle of the game and guys we want to end the game.

It's just a little bit of a -- instead of starting, we're maybe using our more reserves first.

Q. Jackson is in the lineup. Has he shown improvement since yesterday? What's he saying today about how he feels?

PAT MURPHY: Well, obviously he didn't do much yesterday, but I think he feels as good as he felt the day before yesterday.

Q. Perk is --

PAT MURPHY: 100 percent. 100 percent.

Q. That's just flexibility to deploy him wherever you want? And is it partially in case Jackson has to come out again that you have Perk?

PAT MURPHY: Well, that's one of the things that we will use a replacement if we are in a position to. You kind of can't plan on that, but they're a little bit interchangeable. The way Taillon has thrown lately, his sequencing and that type of stuff, we're probably going to see him twice around, and then we're going to see other people. It kind of dictates how they use the other people.

Yeah, it's just kind of all hands on deck right now.

Q. We know the series still has one more win for you guys to go through to the Championship Series, but are you looking at all at the next opponent?

PAT MURPHY: We're not looking at the next opponent. We know how good the Cubs are, and we respect them. We know how tough it is to win when teams have their back to the wall.

We're taking today like the only game we have, and we're going after it.

Q. They say the final out is always the hardest out, the final win in a series is probably the hardest one as well. Why is that?

PAT MURPHY: The final out?

Q. The final out of a game is always the toughest out. Is it the same thing for the final win of a series? Is it the hardest one to get?

PAT MURPHY: I mean, yes, because nothing matters until you get it, so there's no other win that matters until you get it.

When the other team is playing to hang on, it makes it difficult. You really have to rise above all the emotion and rise above all the tension and pressure in the game and still be able to perform right to the very end.

In our sport, baseball, where how the ball bounces can dictate a win or a loss, it makes it very -- it's the reason you play more than one game, winner take all.

Q. How do you deal with your young players to deal with the pressure of this scenario? Obviously you guys ended up with the best record in baseball, but for some of your players, it's the first time they're in this situation.

PAT MURPHY: I think the best way that I can describe it when you're doing it with a group and you're close to that group, it's easier to do it. If we're all walking together arm in arm, it's easier to face those types of pressures together and then be responsible to each other.

Q. You had mentioned earlier about how Taillon, you might see him a second time, kind of reacting to what they do. When you're up 2-0 in a series, are there things you can do to force the Cubs to do things? Are there moves you can make where, instead of being defensively, you're the aggressor forcing the action?

PAT MURPHY: I mean, I think you try to do that; know what I mean? I don't think the gamesmanship is that big of a deal in a game when you know each other that well. We know things about the Cubs that the general public, even people like yourselves that follow it closely, aren't going to see in the game. We study those things and we process those things and we say if this, then this, then that.

There's no real way to get it right, so to speak. I can think back to the first two games and things we did, and you're like, good thing it worked out, because that wasn't conventional. That type of thing. You've got to be willing to risk and be offensive and, at the same time, not set yourself up to get caught.

Q. You watched Quinn start against these guys early in the year when he was probably at his lowest point, and since then he's made a lot of changes, worked a lot of things out in the season. Can you speak a little bit to how you think he matches up against these guys now and how he's a different matchup for these guys now compared to early in the year?

PAT MURPHY: Yeah, he was very uncertain of himself early, and he was trying to find a home in the Big Leagues. His first couple starts were kind of, hmm, maybe.

I think in that first start against the Cubs, he got beat up pretty good, but I think we learned a lot about him.

Then as the season went on he just kept getting better and better, and I think now he's in a better spot. They know him very well. It's not a matter of matchups. The Cubs have beaten all the great pitchers in the game. They've got a great experienced lineup, 1 through 9. We're just trying to control them the best we can.

Q. Do you think with what he's learned about himself this year that he's in a better spot to adapt against these guys to how they might be trying to go after him?

PAT MURPHY: Yeah, I think coupled with William and their plan going in and what they've done previously and how that all works, again, it comes down to executing pitches. That's what it comes down to.

Q. What are you seeing in Joey's at-bats this postseason, specifically with the ability to kind of work the count and the plate discipline?

PAT MURPHY: Yeah, interesting. First two games, and again, two games don't indicate what a guy is necessarily, but Joey has stepped up in those games and had an approach that I haven't seen in the past as definitively.

He's had one at-bat that I'd be totally disappointed in. One at-bat in Game 1.

Other than that, he's done a really nice job of allowing us to keep him in the game.

Q. Do you think that's a product of it being the postseason and more focus, or what do you attribute to just a noticeable change, I guess, in the approach?

PAT MURPHY: Yeah, I mean, I think Joey is at a point where he wants to play and he realizes he's good; I can do this; I've got to stick to it. So I think he's got a good approach right now, and he's got to stick to it.

Q. You talked about Lockridge deserving a chance. What have you noticed about him since he's came into the organization the last couple months?

PAT MURPHY: He was great for us. Sending him to Triple-A crushed me. It really did, because he was great for us, and he helped us win games.

But we wanted to see Perk get on track. Then Lockridge goes to Triple-A and just absolutely -- look at those numbers in the last month. It's undeniable. Some numbers you can't really count on because what's the mental state of the player or what's going on in the player's life, injury, whatever. Just to see that kid and then coming here for the five days and performing the way he has in intersquads and things like that. I mean, yeah.

Q. Do you have anything to say to Cubs fans that call American Family Field Wrigley North?

PAT MURPHY: Do I have anything to say? No. Fans are fanatics; know what I mean? They love their team, and I respect fans that love their team.

I grew up loving a sports team, and you couldn't get me off it. It became emotional. So I get it. They can call it whatever they want. They can do whatever they want. If you were at the two previous games, you knew that the Brewers fans were well-represented.