Brewers Sign Pat Murphy to Three-Year Extension, Club Option for 2029
Pat Murphy has signed a three-year contract extension that will keep him managing the brewers through at least the 2028 season, with a club option for 2029. The deal formalizes a longer-term relationship after two consecutive division titles and back-to-back National League Manager of the Year awards.
Brewers — Development details
The contract reworks the final year of Murphy’s prior deal and adds two more guaranteed seasons, covering the 2026 through 2028 campaigns and carrying a club option for 2029. The arrangement includes $8. 95 million in new money for Murphy. The manager, 67 years old, announced the signing in Phoenix at American Family Fields of Phoenix when the team unveiled the agreement on Feb. 20.
Under Murphy’s stewardship the team posted records of 93-69 and 97-65 in his first two full seasons, producing an overall 190-134 mark. Those back-to-back regular-season results helped stretch the franchise’s run of National League Central division crowns to three consecutive years.
Context and escalation
Murphy’s elevation to manager followed a long tenure as Craig Counsell’s bench coach; he had joined Milwaukee’s staff in 2016 after a career that included stops in college coaching and the San Diego Padres’ minor-league system. He was named the Brewers’ manager on Nov. 15, 2023, and his initial work in the role included an interim major-league managing stint in 2015 when Bud Black was dismissed.
The new contract essentially converts the previous agreement entered when Murphy took over and removes the final-year uncertainty that would have left him entering a season in the last year of a deal. Teams generally avoid leaving managers in that kind of status, and the restructured pact ensures continuity in the dugout heading into the 2026 campaign.
Immediate impact
The extension cements the relationship that produced the club’s recent postseason runs. After a 2024 wild-card exit, Milwaukee advanced to and won a five-game Division Series against the Cubs, then posted the best record in baseball the following year at 97-65 and reached the National League Championship Series.
Those results came amid notable roster turnover. The club has traded several high-profile pitchers and position players in recent transactions, including a multi-player deal that sent Corbin Burnes away before Murphy’s first season and subsequent moves that reshaped the pitching staff and lineup. Despite losing contributors to trades and free agency, the team sustained regular-season success under Murphy’s direction, and players such as designated hitter Christian Yelich credited the continuity Murphy provided.
Because the front office addressed managerial continuity with a multi-year extension, the Brewers retain the strategic stability they had while transitioning personnel. That stability has been a causal factor in the club’s ability to maintain winning records amid roster change.
Forward outlook
The confirmed timeline in the contract sets Murphy as manager through at least the 2028 season, with the club option keeping the door open for 2029. The club will enter the 2026 season with Murphy no longer in the final year of his prior pact and with the expectation that he will continue to oversee the team’s on-field operations.
What makes this notable is that Milwaukee secured the manager who has overseen back-to-back NL Manager of the Year campaigns while also reworking his compensation and term to remove near-term contractual uncertainty. The immediate milestones to watch are the 2026 season opener under the new contract and how the club performs with a roster that has been reshaped by several recent trades and departures.
Murphy’s extension ties together an uncommon professional arc — a longtime college and minor-league coach who rose through a big-league staff and has now been rewarded for consecutive season-long team performance — and it gives the organization a clear managerial blueprint through the 2028 campaign.
