Could Underdog Brewers Topple the Dodgers and Change Baseball Forever?

Pat Murphy, the ever-charismatic skipper of the Milwaukee Brewers, wasn’t exactly rushing through his Sunday press conference. Nope, he took his time, sprinkling in quips and quirky comparisons like a seasoned storyteller. Picture this: Murphy likened Mookie Betts switching to shortstop to Stephen Curry stepping in as a forward on the basketball court. He even crowned Freddie Freeman his top guy—even if that meant acknowledging “he’s ruined Brewers history many times.” And as if that wasn’t enough, Murphy casually rattled off names from a dusty, eight-year-old Dodgers scouting report featuring folks like Yasiel Puig, Rich Hill, and Curtis Granderson.

Yet beneath the humor and jabs lies a bigger picture: the looming National League Championship Series pits the mighty defending World Series champs—who boast a payroll thrice that of Milwaukee—against a scrappy squad from baseball’s tiniest market. Murphy’s not shy about stirring the pot, aiming to ratchet the pressure on L.A.’s star-studded roster. Remember July, when the Brewers swept the Dodgers right in Dodger Stadium? Murphy was already telling reporters then that many fans abroad couldn’t name five players in their lineup. Underdogs? That’s the identity Milwaukee proudly wears, as Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff openly admitted last Saturday.

But let’s keep it real—the NLCS kicks off on Milwaukee turf, a testament to the Brewers owning the season’s best record, including two sweep series against the Dodgers. Just after their division series win, Murphy toasted his team with a slogan that perfectly encapsulates their story: from “Average Joes” to “not-so-fricking Average Joes.” The Dodgers? Well, they’re not buying it—and with good reason. Game 1 starter Blake Snell and infielder Miguel Rojas credit the Brewers with proving their status as the best regular-season team. Murphy, ever the tactician, balances admiration with playful barbs, praising Dodgers’ stars like Shohei Ohtani and Blake Snell, while joking about their closer Roki Sasaki’s fearsome fastball.

Behind the scenes, the stats back up the Dodgers’ edge—four top-ranked starters compared to none on the Brewers—and the odds heavily favor L.A. at 44% to snag the World Series title versus Milwaukee’s 11%. Still, the Bucks’ faithful and their club embody a model franchise built on savvy management and grit, not an oversized paycheck. The stakes? High. The stage? Set. And the narrative? Could this be baseball’s opportunity to crown a new contender while the Dodgers chase a third championship in six seasons?

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Pat Murphy, the gregarious manager of the Milwaukee Brewers, was in no hurry to wrap up his news conference Sunday.

He compared Mookie Betts playing shortstop to Stephen Curry playing forward. He anointed Freddie Freeman as his favorite player even though “he’s ruined Brewers history many times.” He read off names from an eight-year-old Dodgers scouting report that included Yasiel Puig, Rich Hill and Curtis Granderson.

“I love Kenley Jansen,” Murphy said. “You guys miss him?”

All good things must come to an end, even a manager working his audience with the rapport of a standup comedian. The Dodgers’ time in the press conference room was fast approaching.

“I don’t want to take up any of the Dodgers’ precious time,” Murphy cracked. “They’re on a shoestring budget.”

Murphy is only too happy to play into the predominant story line for the National League Championship Series: The defending World Series champions, with a payroll three times that of the Brewers, against a plucky little outfit representing baseball’s smallest market.

If he can say anything that puts a little more pressure on the Dodgers, good for him. Back in July, when the Brewers swept the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium, Murphy told a roomful of reporters: “No disrespect to the great fans of Japan baseball, but they can’t name five guys in our lineup.”

Christian Yelich. Jackson Chourio. Hmmm, does Ryan Braun still play here?

“We’re always the underdogs,” Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff told reporters Saturday.

Let’s get real, though: The NLCS opens here, not at Dodger Stadium, because the Brewers won more games than the Dodgers — and every other major league team — this season. And the Brewers did that because they swept the season series from the Dodgers — a sweep in Milwaukee right before the All-Star break, then a sweep in L.A.

On Saturday, after the Brewers won the division series, Murphy kicked off the clubhouse celebration with this toast: “All year long, they called us the Average Joes. Today, you’re the not-so-fricking Average Joes.”

The Dodgers learned that the hard way this summer. They aren’t buying what Murphy is selling.

“I’m not falling for the Average Joes. They’re not,” said Blake Snell, the Dodgers’ Game 1 starting pitcher.

Said infielder Miguel Rojas: “They showed the whole league and the world that they were the best team in the league during the regular season. They deserve it.”

But back to Murphy, who pointed out the Dodgers players are the ones that appear on your screen not only in games, but in commercials.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy stands on the field before a game. — Brewers manager Pat Murphy knows there’s nothing “average Joe” about the Dodgers. (Michael Reaves / Getty Images)

“They have the star power,” he said, “and they’re great players.”

And his Brewers?

“You can’t look on paper and say, ‘How many of our position players would be on the Dodgers?’ You can’t really project that many of them would,” Murphy said. “But somehow they find a way.”

The Dodgers, though …

Murphy on Shohei Ohtani: “He’s one of the all-time greats.”

Murphy on Snell: “I’ve been very disappointed when he’s pitched and I’m in the stadium. He’s really good.”

Murphy on the Dodgers’ newfound closer, Roki Sasaki: “Throwing 100 with a split? That shouldn’t be fair. We’re going to try to petition the league and see if we can get him suspended for something.”

That last part was a joke, but this is not: The league website ranked the top starting pitchers remaining in the playoffs. The ranking included four Dodgers before any of the Brewers.

And this is no joke, either: On Sunday, Fangraphs projected the Dodgers’ chance of winning the World Series at 44% and the Brewers’ chance at 11%.

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The good fans of Milwaukee were not amused by the pronouncements of Times columnists Dylan Hernández (“The Dodgers are returning to the World Series.”) and Bill Plaschke (“The rest of their journey should be the easy part.”).

At one point Sunday, Murphy referred to the Dodgers as “America’s team.” I’d argue the Brewers should be America’s team, the poster boys for how a team with smart and stable management can compete with a team with an unlimited payroll.

Would you prefer for your team to be owned by someone whining about the Dodgers and their payroll, or someone dedicated to beating them?

Still, consider baseball’s final four: The Dodgers, the defending champions, gunning for their third title in six years. The Toronto Blue Jays, 32 years removed from their last championship. The Brewers and Seattle Mariners, each with no championships.

“I know, being from Seattle,” Snell said, “how important a World Series is there, and the fans, how excited they are, and how crazy the city was in Seattle when they beat Detroit.”

L.A. bleeds Dodger blue. Perhaps the rest of the country — two countries, in fact — is ready for some fresh blood.

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani works out at American Family Field in Milwaukee on Sunday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

“I think they’re happy to see us,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

The Dodgers led the majors in road attendance this season, and last season too.

“People love for fresh blood,” Roberts said, “until you potentially see TV ratings.

“But I think they love seeing the Dodgers, whether they like rooting against us or for us.”

The Brewers beating up the big-market bully really would be good for baseball. Milwaukee is not a fluke like, say, the 2021 San Francisco Giants. The Brewers are in the playoffs for the seventh time in eight years. They are a model franchise.

They are not, however, about to face the Dodgers they faced in July. That team ran Michael Conforto, James Outman and Esteury Ruiz through two outfield spots, and that team never deployed Snell or Ohtani on the mound against Milwaukee.

Dodgers in five.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.