Pat Murphy's misplaced loyalty betrayed the Brewers in NLCS Game 2

From pretty much the moment he took over for Craig Counsell as manager of the Milwaukee Brewers, Pat Murphy has earned a reputation as arguably MLB's preeminent player's coach. He is, by all accounts, one of the most genuine dudes in the entire sport, the kind of guy who goes out of his way to introduce himself to visiting reporters and welcome them to Milwaukee. His teams truly love playing for him, and it shows up on the field: He's won 190 games over the last two regular seasons, after all, and he has the Brew Crew in the NLCS for the first time since 2018.

But there comes a time when even good vibes aren't enough. Managing in October is different than managing in April or August; it requires urgency and a willingness to uncomfortable, to prioritize finding a way to win each day. For all of Murphy's virtues, he's still relatively new to this stage — and he learned that lesson the hard way in Game 2 against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night.

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Pat Murphy committed the cardinal sin of postseason managing

Milwaukee trailed, 2-1, through five innings, desperately needing a win to avoid heading to L.A. in an 0-2 series hole. Brewers starter Freddy Peralta ground through those frames, keeping his team in the game despite not having his best stuff or his best command. After getting Mookie Betts to bang into an inning-ending double play in the top of the fifth, it seemed for all the word like Peralta would be done for the day at 83 pitches — so much so that the TBS broadcast even said as much before going to commercial.

Peralta, however, had other ideas. According to dugout reporter Lauren Shehadi, Murphy and Peralta went into the bowels of the Brewers dugout, during which time the righty pleaded with his manager to let him get through one more inning. Rather than stick to his guns and go to his bullpen, Murphy relented, letting Peralta go back out for the top of the sixth — against the heart of the Dodgers order, for the third time through.

Peralta got Freddie Freemand and Will Smith to pop out and groudn out, respectively. He was almost home free ... until Max Muncy stepped up:

Murphy pulled Peralta immediately, but by then it was too late. What had felt like anyone's game had suddenly shifted decisively into L.A.'s favor with one swing of the bat, a swing that was certainly aided by the fact that Muncy was getting yet another look at a pitcher he'd seen two times previously.

We can say that with some confidence because Murphy thought so as well. After all, it's the reason he had the bullpen hot in the fifth and seemed set to take Peralta out before the sixth even began. But Peralta is Milwaukee's ace, one of the main reasons they're here in the first place, and Murphy has always been the sort of manager who's going to believe in his guys.

The problem is that October baseball leaves no room for sentiment. We've seen it time and time again, from Matt Harvey in the 2015 World Series to Clayton Kershaw over and over and over again during his playoff frustrations for the Dodgers. There's zero margin for error; the only thing that matters is what gets you one out closer to a win, and Milwaukee almost certainly would've been better off with Abner Uribe in that spot rather than Peralta.

Of course, it's hard to put too much of this on Murphy; once again, the Brewers bats were stifled by a Dodgers ace, and no amount of shrewd management will make up for an inability to score runs. But the low-scoring nature of this series means that every pitching choice is even more important, and Murphy let his heart get in the way of his head on Tuesday.