Milwaukee Brewers fans were crushed when Craig Counsell unexpectedly ditched them for their NL Central rivals, the Chicago Cubs, seemingly out of nowhere in the 2023 offseason. While Counsell had never gotten them over the hump in October, he had gotten the Brewers to the postseason consistently for the first time really ever in franchise history.

Since stealing Counsell away, though, the Cubs haven’t gotten past the NLDS, nor have they won an NL Central title. On the flip side, the Brewers have three division crowns under Pat Murphy, and are now three wins away from their first World Series title in franchise history, thanks largely to the buttons Murphy pressed in Game 1 of the Fall Classic.

Pat Murphy pulling Jacob Misiorowski when he did helped the Brewers win Game 1

Murphy has the luxury of having perhaps the best pitcher in the sport right now to turn to every fifth day, and he unsurprisingly dubbed Jacob Misiorowski Milwaukee’s Game 1 starter in the World Series. From a box score perspective, Misiorowski was seemingly in cruise control, with just one run allowed in five innings on 78 pitches. The results were good and the pitch count was low, yet Murphy pulled him.

Sure, having an elite bullpen to lean on helps make such a decision, but pulling a likely Cy Young winner after just allowing one run in five innings on 78 pitches in a World Series game is not easy. Yet, it was the logical one to make, as while the results were good, Misiorowski did not look like himself. His location was far from stellar, and he was having a miserable time of it putting the Rays’ hitters away.

Nobody has better stuff than Misiorowski, yet, while the Rays certainly deserve credit and are a team known for making contact, he only generated one whiff with two strikes all night. Sooner or later, it felt like the Rays were going to break through, so Murphy pulled him before they got the chance, and won the game thanks to that.

Pat Murphy continues to manage the Brewers bullpen flawlessly

Speaking of that bullpen, can we give Murphy credit for how he’s managed them? Again, it might seem easy when they’re so good, but the responsibility is still on Murphy to push the right buttons and use them in the right situations. Given the fact that they allowed just one run in four innings on Friday and continue to be dominant all postseason long, it’s safe to say Murphy did that.

And what I really think he deserves credit for is turning to Abner Uribe in relief of Misiorowski in the sixth inning. Uribe had a great regular season and looked good for much of the postseason, but when last seen prior to Friday, he allowed two runs and issued three walks against the Dodgers.

Uribe is dominant when he’s on, but control can elude him at times. That makes him iffy to trust at times, especially when he looked as bad as he did his last time out. Murphy trusted him, and Uribe gave the Brewers four huge outs in the bullpen. Aaron Ashby followed with five more of his own, and while Trevor Megill bent, he didn’t break in the top of the ninth to seal the victory.

Moving Christian Yelich to the No. 3 spot was a stroke of genius in hindsight

Sometimes, being a great manager means making decisions that might not make much sense on the surface but play out brilliantly anyway. Moving Christian Yelich to the No. 3 spot in this game is an example of that. Yelich was once a staple in the heart of Milwaukee’s order, but he’s had a down year, resulting in him hitting lower in the lineup. For reference, he hadn’t hit third in a game since August 3, that’s over two months ago.

It’s not like Yelich has torn the cover off the ball this postseason, yet Murphy moved him up in the order anyway, and that decision directly led to two of the Brewers’ three runs. Yelich hit an RBI triple past the diving attempt of Jonny DeLuca, plating the first run of the World Series, and he’d later score on a William Contreras RBI single.

The Brewers only scored three runs in this game, so had they. not moved Yelich up in the order, there’s a very real chance they’d have taken a crushing Game 1 loss. Instead, with the margin for error being so slim, Murphy came up big once again, while Counsell watched from the comfort of his own couch.