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NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: DODGERS VS BREWERS


October 17, 2025


Pat Murphy


Los Angeles, California, USA

Dodger Stadium

Milwaukee Brewers

Pregame 4 Press Conference


Q. Vaughn was saying that your message is stay loose, have fun, play free. How difficult is that to do in this situation?

PAT MURPHY: I mean, it's imperative that you understand that if you tighten up or you're trying too hard it's not going to help you. But don't mistake being loose for being flippant and not caring, just being loose and understanding we know how we play.

We know what is important and we know we're up against it right now. But there's a lot of examples of keeping it simple.

I was lucky enough to get a call from a legendary manager this morning. And I've been seeking his advice. And he said to me, the little things, like, do the little things. They lead to the victory tonight. And he said your mantra all year has been win tonight. You can't win four games tonight; you can win one game. So win tonight.

Q. Jose pitched a win-or-go-home game against you guys last year in the playoffs. How valuable is his experience going to be tonight in this same situation?

PAT MURPHY: You think about it, going to Jose is an easy decision. Like, he's the guy with the experience. He threw the ball really good in the Cub series. I look forward to it today. I'm very confident that he understands the situation and can handle it.

Q. With flipping the lineup a little bit, how much of that is trying something new, down three games nothing, and how much is it just the match-ups?

PAT MURPHY: Our six top hitters hit in the top six every day -- or the top seven hitters hit in the top seven. Sometimes you have a horrible match-up for one player, something like that, and we switch out one of those guys.

But I don't think the lineup is any different. It's the same top four hitters every day.

Some of it is based on what they can do in relief and that type of thing. But it's been the same lineup. Top seven hitters for the last -- for whatever, the playoff -- postseason for sure.

Q. You mentioned the legendary manager who gave you the advice. Do you mind telling us who?

PAT MURPHY: Joe Torre.

Q. Chourio is in the lineup. How is he feeling?

PAT MURPHY: Yeah, I think they've got it under control. I think he's going to perform like he did yesterday. Three hard contacts yesterday. What else can you ask? You might walk away and say, he was 0-for-4. But he hit the ball hard three times and had nothing to show for it.

Q. Philosophically, how do you approach what's ahead? Do you empty the tank every day in each of these games to win? Or do you think about it as a four-game-in-five-day chunk?

PAT MURPHY: Right. I think you have to think about winning it all. Why are you doing this? Does it matter if you win one? Does it matter if you win two? We're not looking for respectability.

You know, like, we've had an incredible season with an overachieving team that no one predicted, blah, blah, blah. We've told the story a million times.

So we've had that. But the idea is to win, not trying to get credibility or respectability. And really due to the Dodgers' performance, we have not performed well in these three games.

But, also, what could we do better in those three games? I'm just not pleased with saying the Dodgers pitched great and that's the way it is. Too bad. It can happen in baseball. No, what could we have do. I like to dissect what we could have done better -- offensively, pitching, et cetera.

Pitching decisions, if they work out, they're great decisions. No one asked me in Game 5, how about the decision to move that -- what a decision! Yeah, thanks, guys, that was great!

But as soon as you make a decision then the guy gets a base hit off the first guy or vice versa, it's a bad decision. I live with all that. But I can't live with our team not kind of representing kind of how we play the game.

Although we've done some great defensive things. We've pitched well, we've base run well. Man, there were a few things in the last three games that doesn't sit well with me.

Q. Most of the guys in your lineup haven't really faced Shohei. How has that --

PAT MURPHY: All of them.

Q. What does that mean today when these guys are going in the box for the first time against him?

PAT MURPHY: Yeah, it's always a little advantage pitcher when they haven't seen you before. But they're 170 games in. They understand that you're not facing Shohei; you're facing the ball. You know what I mean?

You do the best you can to see it as best you can. And they know his routine and that type of thing. And they know his repertoire. So, it's about seeing the ball and trying to win that pitch.

Q. Only the 2004 Boston Red Sox have come back from a 3-0 deficit. Have you taken a look at the series to maybe find some, I don't know, inspiration?

PAT MURPHY: For sure. I've seen in sports and my many years of life, I've seen a lot of great comebacks. I've seen a lot of great upsets, et cetera, et cetera.

But it all starts when you're in it, and it all starts with one pitch, one inning, you know what I mean, one game at a time. So we're not thinking of winning four, like Joe Torre said. We're not trying to win four tonight. We're trying to win one game tonight.

Q. In your many years of life as you referenced --

PAT MURPHY: You're going to make an age joke, you're right. (Laughter.)

Q. You've managed the game at a lot of high levels and I'm asking, have you ever seen what Mookie Betts has done moving from right to second to short in terms of his effectiveness and development?

PAT MURPHY: I said it before this series, I think in front of this group -- being so old I don't remember things (laughter) -- but I think I said, it's an incredible untold story.

Shohei Ohtani might be the best baseball player on earth right now. It's debatable, whatever, but he might be.

Freddie Freeman has touched our hearts many times in the wrong way.

But Mookie Betts, what he's doing in the game of baseball, is incredible, to move from outfield to playing shortstop on the Los Angeles Dodgers, a team that's stacked with everything you can be stacked with. For him to do that and do it well is incredible.

And then struggled early, according to Mookie, and now he's swinging in every clutch situation and hitting behind Shohei, which is a huge responsibility. I'm just telling you, man, that needs to be brought out because if you're talking about most valuable player, you're going to go through the stats and all that kind of stuff.

But if you're talking about a player that really was valuable to this team this year, I'm saying Mookie Betts is number one. No disrespect to Shohei and/or Freddie or some of the great pitching, et cetera.

Incredible. Imagine Steph Curry just saying, okay, he's going to go play power forward and guard the other team's best player. That's what it's like. So he's going to guard the other team's best player, who's bigger, whatever. Never done it and he does it and they win still. And he puts up his 30-plus a game.

Amazing, amazing thing. And I would just like that to be recognized because I know as Dave is sitting over there, he's thinking the same thing, like, this is freaking incredible.

I'd give him MVP votes for that. Nightengale, you like that? You're involved in the MVP thing. Do you make the decision yourself --

Q. Yeah, (laughter)?

PAT MURPHY: These big-name reporters.

Q. I'm in on it.

PAT MURPHY: That's what I'm saying. Mookie needs to get some consideration. Okay. You say no, because you're a of that -- got that wall up about not letting that thinking in, but, man.

Q. I think what he's done is incredible. The Dodgers have so many MVP candidates, it's a problem. You mentioned two of them. It's a tough balance. We talked about your guy, Yelich.

PAT MURPHY: What about him?

Q. You and I talked about where he fits in the ballot. Yeah, it's a tough ballot?

PAT MURPHY: You're right. It's a tough ballot.

Tough game. We've got a tough mountain to climb. Let's get started one step at a time.

Q. I think it's funny -- I was saying that I thought it was funny that the guy who called you today to give you advice about coming back in an 0-4 series is the guy who lost in the Red Sox series?

PAT MURPHY: That's called humility. That's called friendship. That's a beautiful thing, beautiful thing.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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