Pat Murphy’s Yankees criticism is just another baseball bubble

First and foremost, congratulations to the Milwaukee Brewers and manager Pat Murphy.

The Brew Crew quickly dispatched the American League Champion Tampa Bay Rays in Game 5, locking down a 4-1 victory at Tropicana Field to clinch the World Series. The same Tampa Bay Rays who both won the American League East and unceremoniously swept the rival New York Yankees in the ALDS.

But just when we thought we could sit back and enjoy the aftermath of a true small-market team World Series, the Yankees somehow got involved. It all started with Brewers first baseman Jake Bauers, who spent 2023 with the Yankees before being traded to Milwaukee for minor league depth before 2024. Bauers has since become a Brewers lineup staple and was involved in the final out of Game 5 following a ground ball to Brice Turang at second.

And during the postgame celebration, Bauers handed the final out to Murphy. Murph, hugging his player then dropped his own bit of wisdom. Conveniently, the cameras were rolling.

“You’re going to be a rich f***er,” Murphy tells Bauers, an impending free agent who hit a career-high 26 home runs in 2026. “Just remember when you were on that horses**t Yankees team and you guys were all playing for yourself? Just remember, say, ‘This is the way we used to do it.'”

No disrespect to Pat Murphy, but was he even paying attention when he was the Brewers’ bench coach in 2023? Granted, he’s not wrong about the quality of the team that year. The 2023 Yankees were old, ineffective, and injured out of the starting gate and finished 82-80 en route to missing the playoffs. Bauers, still just a journeyman reserve outfielder, hit .202 with 12 homers and a negative WAR.

It’s the rest of the comment that’s ignorant, idiotic and, to use Murphy’s words, horses**it. The 2023 Yankees all playing for themselves? Let’s recap that awful year.

Gerrit Cole won the Cy Young headlining an otherwise mediocre starting staff. Giancarlo Stanton was both injured and hit sub-.200. Anthony Rizzo suffered a concussion that basically killed his production. Aaron Judge crashed through the Dodgers bullpen wall and somehow missed two months with a stubbed toe.

The season was a textbook example of what everyone’s gripe with the Yankees actually is: Judge goes down, and so does the team. But is that really players only looking out for themselves?

Think about it. Aaron Judge is, bar none, baseball’s most dangerous hitter when healthy. He’s going to be a big loss in the lineup. Plain and simple.

But a whole lineup collapsing after the loss of one player isn’t a sign of selfishness. At least not the intentional kind. It’s more a collective problem. Eight men can’t cover a loss when one or more is constantly trying to fill the superstar void.

The Brewers, by comparison, just play the game and seem to have the “fundamentals” down. The “fundamentals” the Yankees apparently don’t teach. Funny how those same “fundamentals” failed Milwaukee in Game 4 when Joey Ortiz failed not once but twice to make simple throws from third base.

Anyway, I digress. We can be excited for the Brewers’ small-ball approach being enough to win a World Series. But we can also acknowledge it’s likely a blip on the radar. Both the Rays and Brewers were tops in baseball with a .258 team batting average, yet ranked 22nd and 29th in team home runs, respectively. Home runs still rule the roost. That’s not changing anytime soon.

It’s just annoying that instead of celebrating an exciting World Series, we are once again re-hashing how much the Yankees do or don’t do to win. It’s absolutely effing exhausting.

Baseball is a hard game. It is a funny game. Oftentimes, it’s just plain stupid.

And given Pat Murphy’s unprecedented shot at the Yankees? Some things never change.