NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: DODGERS VS BREWERS

October 14, 2026

Pat Murphy

Dodger Stadium

Milwaukee Brewers

Pregame 3 Press Conference

Q. Last year with what Snell did to you in Game 1 of the NLCS with just attacking, a lot of change-ups, kind of mixed it up there, how much going into this game do you factor in the way he pitched you when you guys are doing your prep work, knowing it could be that way or he could just completely flip the script?

PAT MURPHY: You can drive yourself crazy wondering what's the sequence, what's this, what's that. Bottom line is he has to execute pitches, and if he executes the way he did last year, that's going to be a huge challenge.

We can't worry about what he's going to do. We have to just be ready for what we do, and what we do is try to get something -- not guess, but try to get something we want to do something with or lay off. So we'll see what happens.

It factors in when you think about the gem that he threw against us. You think about, wow, the guy's very capable.

Q. Related to that, you talked the other day about having maybe a little bit of second thoughts about the lineup decision with Yelich against Tarik Skubal. Was this a difficult lineup to write?

PAT MURPHY: Yes.

Q. And what made you come to a different decision this time? Same decision really.

PAT MURPHY: A lot of factors. A lot of factors in there. It's temporary. He can be inserted in the game at any time. Yeah, a lot of factors. If you'd like to come after and talk about how you make a lineup and what are the things that go into it, we can sit down and have a session. But I want to be able to give Kurt another chance to come back with four more questions like you know he'll want to.

Q. We were asking Cooper about how he thinks he's handled the playoff pressure, it's different. How do you see that he has handled it? And for that matter, your other young players.

PAT MURPHY: You see the result, and you immediately attribute it to youth, and that's not always the case. I think the most important thing is to see him respond to those results that weren't positive and to see the way he's put together at-bats. So I think he's done great. I really do. I think he's done great.

He's had a couple tough plays he hasn't made -- the ball in San Diego where the broken bat is flipping at him and the player's jumping in front of him, and then he doesn't understand like I've got another second to make this throw, kind of makes a wide throw. It wasn't a brutal throw, like no chance, but he's had a couple plays like that where there was more to it. The topspin ground ball by Betts -- not a ground ball, one-hop liner that came up on him. Those are tough plays.

I think you've got to be quick to not criticize when it wouldn't have mattered how old players are, they've made those plays.

Q. From everything you've seen from Robert Gasser in the back half of this year, why do you believe he's ready for this moment tonight?

PAT MURPHY: I think he's proven it. The outings that he's put together has been pretty special. We just hope that continues. Pitch by pitch -- and he knows he has a team behind him. He doesn't have to go out and just try to dominate. Just go out and make pitches. He's got a good defense behind him. Go from there.

Q. Going off of that, what did you see in his postseason start in San Diego that you really liked how he maybe handled it overall?

PAT MURPHY: Yeah, that's it. Overall for him to just keep punching. It was beautiful. That's a really good lineup and a lineup that handles left-handed pitching as good as anybody, and I thought he did a really, really good job.

Q. I'm sure you've been asked this to some extent, but what's been the biggest difference --

PAT MURPHY: How are you? When's the last time we saw each other? When did you do that thing when you were over on the left?

Q. You ripped into me in D.C. last summer. I had a wide stance, and you let everyone know. Do you want to do this now or later?

PAT MURPHY: Let's do it now. I want everyone to know. That's the thing about stories, everybody can enjoy.

Q. I was in your scrum before a game in D.C., and had a little bit of a wide stance. And I asked you a question about Logan Henderson, and you turned to me and said, "That's a wide stance." Does that suffice? Can I ask you a question now?

PAT MURPHY: You did have a wide stance, right?

Q. I did, yeah. I was standing with my legs a little further apart than you thought was acceptable.

PAT MURPHY: No, it was acceptable. I was just wondering, wow, dude's got a wide stance. I didn't know if you were in a pass rush or what you were going to do.

Q. You were thrown. So Jackson Chourio --

(Laughter.)

Q. What's been the biggest difference just him this season compared to last? How have you seen him grow as a player and as a person?

PAT MURPHY: I think it's been a steady growth from day one till now. It's been steady. It's just special. Then you see him, and then he'll revert back and get back on it.

It's been a really fun thing to watch. Every facet of the game, the defense -- if he doesn't win the Gold Glove, I'll be shocked. Every facet of his game has gotten better.

Q. It seems like from afar he showed up here on day one as a 20-year-old with the confidence already intact. Is it fair to say that the physical stuff has sort of caught up to that level of confidence?

PAT MURPHY: Yeah, he's understanding the game at a higher level. He watches the game. He loves the moments. We're watching something special happen.

Q. Your guys are as young as anybody. Do they handle the highs and lows as well as anybody? How are they handling prosperity, being up 2-0 right now, in your opinion?

PAT MURPHY: I'm not sure how they're handling it. They came to work yesterday and got a workout in and were pretty intent. They seem to be doing great. They've got a bunch of people around them supporting them. I think that's most important. You're part of a team. You don't have to do it yourself. It isn't all about you. How can you help the team today?

Q. Why is the stolen base or the threat of the stolen base so important to what you guys do?

PAT MURPHY: It affects pitchers. I think that's -- you can't measure that part. You can't measure how that affects a pitcher making the next pitch, if his attention is somewhat divided on the runner, because if that runner steals a base, he's in scoring position. I don't care what base it is.

So you steal a base, you're in scoring position. That gives trepidation to some pitchers. Some can block it out, I guess. I don't know. I can't measure it.

But I'm certain that the threat of the steal or the steal can hopefully divide attention and get the hitter better pitches. If the steal is successful, if we choose to steal, then you've put yourself in scoring position.

Q. You mentioned Gold Glove. I'll just ask your opinion of the finalists that were listed today. I know you saw Jackson and Brice were finalists. And the snubs too, maybe guys that weren't named finalists that you thought maybe should have been?

PAT MURPHY: Contreras, he wasn't in there? Contreras?

Q. No.

PAT MURPHY: I'm biased. I get to see him 100-plus games catching. I think he caught the most games in the Major Leagues this year, and he was so important to us. They should come up with another award for William, whatever it is, because he's been incredible. So if he's not on that list, ask for a redo.

Q. Joey too, the utility guy, he wasn't on there?

PAT MURPHY: Joey's a great defender. You know, I don't know the other guys in the league, but Joey, if given the chance to play every day on a team, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better defender. I don't know how all the voting takes place and everything. I know I vote, but I don't remember who was on there and who wasn't. You can't vote for your own players anyway.

I try to just really vote for who I think is the best. I think you're doing a disservice if you try to like, well, I don't want to vote for this guy because my guy's in competition. I just voted for the guy that I think are the best.

But for Contreras not to be on there, I don't know what it's based on. There's so many things in the catching position that you can't measure. So now I'm kind of ticked about it now that you brought it up. So he's not a finalist?

Q. No.

PAT MURPHY: Who do we call? Let's get them on the line. I'm going to protest that. Can we do that?

Q. You can try.

PAT MURPHY: Put it on the record I'm protesting the Golden Glove voting. Stevie from Rawlings. Put it out to Stevie. Does he use a Rawlings glove, Contreras?

Q. He does.

PAT MURPHY: That shouldn't matter.

Q. Listening to Snell talk yesterday, it's fascinating the way he kind of goes into the psyche, the mental side of the opposing hitters and maybe what they're thinking. I'm curious what you think --

PAT MURPHY: So he's thinking that I'm thinking that he's thinking that I'm thinking?

Q. To understand maybe what you guys --

PAT MURPHY: We're in good shape, then, because we don't have a whole lot of guys thinking.

Q. It sounds like he listens or reads the press conferences too.

PAT MURPHY: He does? I like this guy. I like him.

Q. I'm curious what you think about players doing that, and are there any guys on your team that you feel do a good job or even try to get into the other guy's thinking process?

PAT MURPHY: I think they do maybe subconsciously almost to maybe -- not subconsciously. I think they do in that when you're trying to say, hey, look, I know this guy's looking for this. I faced him last night. If we're facing Snell, we're going to look change-up. He's faced a million change-ups and never done that before.

We're going to take that script and look at it and go, oh, maybe we can sit on something here. Then we've got other guys who don't remember we faced Snell, you know what I mean? It's like you see which one's better.

I think players do that more and more. I think a veteran player like Snell with his track record of great success, I think he has his modus operandi, and it's obviously worked for him. Great respect for him.

Q. When you were at Claremont, did you have connections --

PAT MURPHY: Name the five schools. You can't ask the question unless you name all five schools in the Claremont college.

Q. ASU, Notre Dame --

PAT MURPHY: No. The Claremont colleges, there's five colleges in one area, two different athletic departments, five colleges. You have to name the five colleges and the most famous coach from that college.

Q. Is Mudd Scripps one or two?

PAT MURPHY: Two. Harvey Mudd, Scripps College, that's two. Claremont McKenna, that's three. You should know these.

Q. ASU, Notre Dame.

PAT MURPHY: ASU?

Q. I just don't know the answer --

PAT MURPHY: Pomona College and Pitzer College.

Pomona, Pitzer, Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd -- engineering, one of the best -- and Scripps College.

Greatest coach that ever coached at the Claremont colleges?

Q. Wasn't you?

PAT MURPHY: Not even close.

Q. Lou Holtz.

PAT MURPHY: No. I'll give you a hint. Budenholzer was a point guard for this guy.

Q. Popovich.

PAT MURPHY: Popovich was the head coach at Pomona Pitzer. If you're going to be in the business, you've got to know that.

Q. I'll come better prepared next time, Murph. When you were there, did you have connection to the Dodgers of that era?

PAT MURPHY: Yes. Mike Scioscia, Tommy Lasorda, Mike Scioscia, Bob Welch, Ron Cey, Dusty Baker. There was a guy in the office there, Diamondbacks president, Derrick Hall, ASU grad, in the ticket office. Kevin Malone was the GM for a while. Fred Claire was the old scouting director, I believe. So many great friends.

Mike Scioscia was broken down in Claremont. He'll tell you the story. He was broken down in Claremont. His car broke down. It was very late. I was coming back from somewhere, and I had a little Jeep, and I just saw this guy was broken down in this little sports car, pull over to the side of the road.

Get out, guy's got a suit on, heavyset guy. Didn't recognize him. I said, Hey, man, can I help you? He said, Yeah, man, can you get me to a phone? This was 1986. Can you get me to a phone? I said, Yeah, my office is right down the street.

He jumped in my car. My friend was with me. She sat on his lap because the Jeep was small. Went down to my office. He had a tan suit on, sat in my office for a while. He's like, Hey, man, you're a baseball coach, and he starts going into it. Hey, you love Notre Dame. Blah, blah, blah.

He starts talking about all this kind of stuff. He's kind of a chunky guy, you know what I mean? You're not picking out Major League player right here, you know what I mean?

So I go into my rhetoric, what I do for a living, all this kind of stuff. I said, What do you do? He goes, I work for the Dodgers. I go, Oh, what do you do? He goes, I catch.

I feel like a total fool. I gave him a ride home that night and got his car fixed, and we became friends ever since. He'll remember that story.

Q. Was that your mail Jeep you were talking about?

PAT MURPHY: No, this was a different Jeep. Mail Jeep was in Florida. This was a different. Can't go cross country in a mail Jeep.

True story. Mike Scioscia, great dude. We became friends after that. Then he saw me go up in the game. He's like, Dude, remember the day you picked me up in your Jeep?

Great admiration for Mike Scioscia.

Q. Today's Dodgers lineup, they drop Ohtani to 6 and Smith to 7. Is anything going to affect about that, or what do you feel --

PAT MURPHY: Sometimes when players are not producing or not giving you the best version of themselves, sometimes it helps to put them down a little bit and give someone else a chance to hit higher in the order and maybe get more at-bats. I don't think anything of it. I respect those two guys.

Will Smith's swinging the bat really good. I know the numbers aren't there, but if you do what I do, you watch swings and you watch his approach, I think he's looked good. Ohtani, it's still Ohtani when he walks up there. When a guy knocks you out, you kind of don't forget him. I could say pretty clearly he knocked us out last year. You don't forget him.