Murphy is the first Brewers manager to earn this award.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy was named the NL Manager of the Year on Tuesday night. He beat out managers Carlos Mendoza of the Mets and Mike Shildt of the Padres for the honor. Murphy is the first Brewers manager to win this award.
It was a near-unanimous decision for Murphy. He earned 27 of the 30 first-place votes that were cast. He also took three second-place votes for a total of 144 points, more than double of second place. He was also the only manager listed on every ballot. Shildt finished second in the vote, taking one first-place vote and 19 of the 30 second-place for 70 points. Mendoza finished third with a first-place vote and 35 points. The other first-place vote went to Rob Thomson of the Phillies, who finished in fifth with just that one vote.
Murphy took over a Brewers team with some of the lowest expectations in the league. The Brewers were not expected to win the division after trading away Corbin Burnes, losing Brandon Woodruff to injury, and losing former manager Craig Counsell to the Cubs in free agency. Not only that, but they were going to play several young players. However, they defied expectations and went on to win the NL Central by 10 games. In terms of record, Murphy had the smallest increase of the three finalists. The Brewers had just one additional win in 2024, but his impact beyond the record was noted very highly by the voters.
Shildt gave the Padres a boost, improving their record from 82-80 in 2023 to 93-69 in 2024. They were seen as an underperforming them in 2023 who was able to get more out of their roster in 2024. Meanwhile, Mendoza took over the Mets and led them to a 89-73 season after they finished 75-87 in 2023. Expectations were also low for the Mets, but they had more resources to lean on than the Brewers.
Awards week continues for the rest of the week, but no other Brewers are listed among the finalists for the remaining rewards. Some Brewers could finish with some votes in these awards, though. The next award is the Cy Young award, which will be announced tomorrow at 5 p.m. CT.
Full vote totals can be found on the BBWAA website.