MLB WORLD SERIES: RAYS VS BREWERS

October 26, 2026

Pat Murphy

Tropicana Field

Milwaukee Brewers

Pregame 3 Press Conference

Q. One of the first agenda items was the pop-ups with the challenges of the roof here. Can one session like that prepare a guy like Cooper Pratt, who's never been inside this building for something like that, and how big of a factor do you see that potentially being?

PAT MURPHY: It could be a factor. Every field you go to -- if you go to Wrigley, you've got to deal with the wall and the basket, the small foul territory. Here you've got to deal with foul territory, the mounds are on the field. You've got to deal with a different color background, different color ceiling, catwalks.

That could come into play, but these guys are baseball players. These adjustments are the types of things that they can make. I'm not saying it's easy, but I think they can do it. But I thought we needed to practice that.

Q. The other night there was a spot in the fourth or fifth there, Yelich, bases loaded, lefty came in. Curious how strongly you considered hitting Vaughn there?

PAT MURPHY: What inning was that?

Q. Fourth. And are you finding it tougher to get him spots in the game with the growing trust in Yelich?

PAT MURPHY: No, it's not growing trust in Yelich. It's just it's the fourth inning, and if you start making changes in the fourth inning, then if Vaughn's on base -- Vaughn's on base in the sixth inning or seventh inning and he's at second base, do you pinch run for him in a tie game? Then how many players do you have left? What if you wanted to make another move?

Substituting in the fourth inning with two outs is something you've really got to contemplate how it's going to affect the rest of the game. I made the decision based on what's going to happen the rest of the game.

Do you think that was a wrong decision?

Q. I have no opinion.

PAT MURPHY: Well, if you don't know -- those types of decisions over and over and over, if you don't know those, it's tougher to do them. I've done them a lot, and sometimes I'm right, and sometimes I'm wrong.

Q. Robert Gasser talked about the start in Seattle where you pulled him mid at-bat. What do you remember about that interaction, that decision, and how he responded to it afterwards?

PAT MURPHY: I remember that. Yeah, that was it. What was the count, 2-0?

Yeah, I'd seen enough, you know what I mean? It's time to be locked in right there, and he didn't. What's the difference if you pull him mid at-bat or not? What's the difference?

How did he respond? Pretty well. I don't know if that had anything to do with it, but probably wasn't figuring I was going to get a Christmas card from him that year. But I can do without one more or one less.

No. He's thrown the ball really well.

Q. Hey, Patrick. You have such an interesting --

PAT MURPHY: Did you call Patrick on me?

Q. Mr. Murphy.

PAT MURPHY: Now I feel like I'm back in Catholic school, substitute teaching.

Q. You have such an interesting background, and you've coached football as well. I wanted to ask you how has that come into play and helped you either from a cultural, from a leadership perspective, or even fundamentals in your baseball career?

PAT MURPHY: I recommend it to everybody that can, coach football, because there's just something different about that preparation, something different about that work. If you love the sport, I recommend you coach it because there's a lot to it.

Yeah, it helped train me and still helps me. I really am thankful for that, getting into coaching. Having to coach college football was critical for me.

Q. Sticking with coaching, after Game 1 in one of your answers, you used the phrase "worry is a waste of time." Is that something you often recite back to your team, and what kind of weight does a phrase like that hold?

PAT MURPHY: I don't know what kind of weight it holds. I just say it all the time. I don't even know if it's real, but I just say it, like a lot of things we say, right? I just say worry is a waste of time.

My kids say it in their prayer at night: Help me to remember that worry is a waste of time. Because that's thinking about the future, and you've got to stay in the now. You've got to think about the now. If you get yourself caught up in the future, it can go either way, and you can rack your brain doing things.

You just kind of prepare for today and be aware of what it means for tomorrow.

Q. Murph, William has caught more of Freddy's pitches than any other catcher in baseball during his career.

PAT MURPHY: Has he?

Q. He has.

PAT MURPHY: Oh, wow.

Q. If there is a familiarity factor when former teammates face each other, is the guy who's been behind the plate the most and seen from that vantage point how a guy's stuff moves and how it plays, is he the one who maybe stands the most to gain or the most to have an impact from it?

PAT MURPHY: I don't think William has done great against Freddy. Am I right about that? I don't think he's done great against him. I think he's faced him not too many times.

Yeah, you'd think William would have a feel for it. At the same time, there's a lot of emotion because those guys know each other so well. So we've got to keep that emotion under control.

It comes down to pitches. It comes down to you and the ball, not so much you and the pitcher. So I don't look at that as a big advantage or disadvantage.

Q. My question is along those same lines. You've known you were going to be facing Freddy for a while, but now that it's here, as somebody who's part of the fabric of the Brewers is going to be facing you in a World Series game, I wonder what your emotions are. You've kind of said what you think the team's emotions will be.

PAT MURPHY: You get to do this a lot in baseball. You have 30 different teams. A lot of those guys played for you. My first managerial win ever in 2015, I got a 24-pack of Diet Dr. Pepper from Eric Sogard, who I coached in college, and I labeled him Soda Boy to make sure my drink of choice gets on the bus every day when he was a freshman. So he was labeled Soda Boy.

The first game I ever managed, he beat us with a hit in the ninth. Then the next day, we happened to beat them in Oakland and he sent me -- so the emotions are there, you know what I mean? You're going to have that throughout the league with so many players, and you just have to play baseball and not think about your personal relationship.

Me managing the game against the Cubs, who their manager is my close, close friend. So it's like you can't let any of that come into play. That's a distraction. That's not going to lead to the right balance or equilibrium in yourself. I think you try to block out all that stuff, if you can.

Q. I had a nice chat with Kai yesterday during the workout --

PAT MURPHY: Who?

Q. Kai, your son. It got me to thinking Jaxon and Austin are around so much, and the boys are clearly an important part of your life --

PAT MURPHY: So's my daughter.

Q. And your daughter. I don't mean to forget her. But the boys are around all the time.

PAT MURPHY: Can he get written up for that?

Q. The question being just they're around so much, but what does it mean to you to be able to have everybody here, your family here on this biggest stage in the World Series?

PAT MURPHY: Again, I try to make not too much of a deal of that either. I just want them to know that I'm the same no matter what the -- if we're in A ball next year going against Salem–Keizer or wherever, that I'm there for them, the same every single day, and they're the priority.

Yeah, but it's wonderful to have family around for our whole staff, and I'm sure the Rays. It's just great to have your family with you on this journey. Whether it turns out successful and your season ends in a .500 record or whether it turns out where you're lucky enough to be in the position we are, yeah, it's just great to have family with you no matter what.

Q. Murph, you guys when you signed Cooper Pratt, it was clear that he's an important part of your future, but he still went to the minors for a little while. What did you need to see from him -- what did he need to do down there before he came back up, and how has he adjusted since he's been here?

PAT MURPHY: I think we felt like he was pretty close and we just wanted the contract thing to be over and settled in and see how he participated after that and see how he handled the ups and downs of it.

Then we had an opportunity. We designated a player for assignment, and we needed an infielder, and it was time. It's not what he did; it's just how he handled things. I think that since he's been here, he's done very well.

You're looking at me like I didn't answer your question at all.

Q. How did he -- I guess how have his adjustments been?

PAT MURPHY: He adjusted the bat angle coming into the zone 3.2 percent. He went -- no.

He just responded really well to the contract. And his work ethic and how he treated people, how he handled the game, we knew it was a matter of time.

Then like I said, we had a need for an infielder. And a kid we had down there, Jett Williams, hurt his wrist, and Cooper was the logical choice. Was he ready? Wasn't he ready? Hey, he's going to be with us, so it's a matter of time. Let's give it a go.

That's what we do, we give guys opportunity, and he's made the most of it.

Q. Are any players in your clubhouse particularly superstitious, and do any of those superstitions leave you shaking your head?

PAT MURPHY: Yeah. I don't pay attention to a lot of it, you know what I mean? I really don't. I think there probably is some people like that. I scoff at it a little bit because it's fun, I guess, but I'm just like that's not a real thing for me. It is for them. So if it's real for them, then it's all about what you believe.

I don't know any of them particularly.

Q. Could I ask you a bit about Bauers? When he was contemplating leaving the game, did he talk with you about it? Were you aware of the frustration he was having?

PAT MURPHY: I was aware. He didn't talk to me a lot about it. We did have some really good life conversations about just life, about him and his family. That's all privileged stuff. We were in St. Louis, I remember particularly, and he was going through a family situation with a sickness, and he opened up a little bit, and it was really, really a great time to kind of get to know each other better and get a perspective of where he's at.

Q. Were you able to -- is that not your place to guide him what you think he should do?

PAT MURPHY: No. He didn't talk to me about leaving the game, but I knew he was frustrated. I knew he was in a situation where, wow, this is going to be me? I'm a part-time guy? I can do some things, but maybe never get the opportunity to be a full-time guy. There it is.

Q. He was talking to us before. He feels like he's a much different -- not just a different player, a different person now. Do you sense that too?

PAT MURPHY: Not so different, but I think he matured, and that's what those things do. When you're honest with yourself and you go through things, that's what experience can do for you if you're willing to grow and willing to let it take place and not try to force it or not try to push it in one direction. Just let it happen. Prepare like you're supposed to and let it happen and let people see the best part of you.

Sometimes when you're trying too hard or trying to make it work or you're kind of trying to position yourself or sell yourself, then you're not being yourself. When you're trying to prove yourself so much, sometimes you're not being yourself.

I think he went through that. Yeah, I think his teammates helped him more than anything. I really believe that.

Q. What's been the key for Uribe to stay so consistent, and how much have you enjoyed watching him get all these big-time outs for you?

PAT MURPHY: Uribe has been fantastic, if you go back to last year or even the year before, but last year particularly, he's been remarkable for us. We rode him hard, especially at the end. He just loves being out there. He loves being out there, and there's no situation too big for him. He's a winner.

And he was misunderstood at one point in his career, and I think now he's proven to everybody the man that he is. Really proud of him. That's underrated. And I'm going to tell you that's a guy that when you get to know him and you spend some time, you love that guy because he's got your back.

Yeah, I love that guy.

Let's go one more. Somebody give me another question.

Q. Many Brewers fans are here in Tampa for the game. 25 percent, 30 percent of the tickets are more Milwaukee fans. How important is their support for your team in the World Series road game?

PAT MURPHY: Our fans are a huge part of this whole thing. The whole city of Milwaukee, the whole state of Wisconsin, they're a big part of this because our guys are aware of that responsibility and how much that state, that city loves the Brewers and supports the Brewers. So I'm not surprised that there will be a bunch of Brewers fans here. Not surprised.