2026 World Series: The Rays are learning the hard way what the Padres and Dodgers already know – these Brewers are relentless
“Relentlessness is the reciprocal of stopping, submission, abandonment. It is an aggressive, persistent attitude, in attack mode. This defines a warrior. The relentless performer gives himself intensely, entirely and constantly to the competition.” — the late Harvey Dorfman, legendary mental skills coach, friend and mentor to Brewers manager Pat Murphy
MILWAUKEE — As the Milwaukee Brewers returned to their dugout after a disastrous start to the first inning Saturday in Game 2 of the World Series, they did so calmly, without worry, completely oblivious to the scoreboard.
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The Tampa Bay Rays had just bullied starter Logan Henderson, scoring him for four runs, two of which came via a crowd-silent long ball from catcher Liam Hicks. For the visitors, it was a welcome outburst after a sleepy attack in their opening game defeat. High-fives and atta-boys echoed from their side of the field as the field players gathered their belongings and ran to their positions.
In the Milwaukee shelter, nine intrepid souls prepared for a familiar climb. Nowhere in manager Pat Murphy’s view was there a hint of panic.
“I didn’t say anything. I was just out there doing what I do,” he said. “I eat these mints all day, so I have good breath if I go out and talk to a referee. I didn’t say much, but I heard these guys talking to each other, and they were focused on the fact that they could continue to get back in the game, and that first inning did a lot.”
“We came up with an offensive plan. The scoreboard isn’t going to dictate it,” said NLCS MVP and first baseman Jake Bauers. “The goal is to make sure everyone knows it doesn’t matter.”
If you punch them in the mouth, these Milwaukee Brewers will break their necks, swallow a few teeth and, without any worry, roll back. They’re bulletproof zombies, cockroaches in baseball pants. They are also now 9-1 in October. Remarkably, the Brewers trailed in eight of those wins, twice by four runs.
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For Murphy’s club, early season deficits are only minor inconveniences. The Rays are learning it now while the Padres and Dodgers are nodding in solidarity from their couches. Each consecutive Milwaukee comeback only strengthens the Brewers’ united confidence, like fire forges steel. The sun will rise, the sun will set, and the 2026 Brewers will take back the lead and keep it.
This is the act of persistence.
“Everyone really bought into it,” said reliever DL Hall, who pitched a scoreless sixth in Milwaukee’s 5-4 Game 2 victory. “We’ve had such crazy games all year long. We had a nine-run comeback. So when you score four, especially in the first? Man, we had nine innings.”
On Saturday, nine innings were not necessary. The Brewers immediately counterattacked; only three minutes passed between the final out from the top of the first and the first baserunner from the bottom. Leadoff hitter Jackson Chourio slapped the second pitch he saw from Tampa Bay starter Drew Rasmussen into right field for a hit. American Family Field has come back to life. The Brewers scored twice in the game with a quartet of singles and were on their way.
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“Our offense is designed to wear down and wear down pitchers, which I think can be a good thing when you’re trying to come back. At the same time, if we’re leading, it’s exactly the same approach,” said plucky outfielder Sal Frelick, whose sixth-inning solo homer tied the score.
It is a process-based lifestyle reaffirmed by positive results, a repeatable recipe for success. A run on an error here, an improbable home run there (Frelick scored only four times in the regular season) and belief becomes reality. Eventually, someone (it doesn’t matter who, but in Game 2 it was Brice Turang) will reach base, and someone else (it doesn’t matter who, but in Game 2 it was Cooper Pratt) will get them in. It is inevitable, a law of the universe, that enough blue and yellow cleats touch enough white polygons that a Brewers deficit becomes a Brewers lead. Add in six scoreless from the best bullpen on Earth, including 1 ⅔ of impeccable framing from the immaculate Aaron Ashby, and you have a franchise two wins away from its first World Series title.
As the series heads to the Florida Gulf Coast for Game 3 on Monday, it’s hard to imagine this Milwaukee freight train being derailed by a Rays club currently playing below its own standards. Having ALCS MVP Freddy Peralta on the hill for this must-win contest will inspire some confidence, but a fairytale turnaround seems impossible without a reawakening of Tampa’s so-far unimpressive offensive unit. Over the final eight innings of Game 2, the Rays repeatedly failed to push another run. This incompetence quickly turned into frustration. At one point, superstar Junior Caminero could be seen shouting in displeasure through the dugout.
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It was like the antithesis of Milwaukee’s confident serenity, its placid relentlessness.
The Brewers’ consistent stubbornness in the face of adversity is a big part of what makes the NL champs so special. Having a collection of elite baseball players helps too, but as Yogi Berra once said, “Baseball is 90 percent mental, and the other half is physical.” That quip absolutely applies to these Brewers, whose philosophy of resilience begins with Murphy, a man with the word “fearless” tattooed on his right forearm.
On Murphy’s right bicep is another piece of ink: large black letters that say “200 club.” It’s a mantra he coined long ago alongside Harvey Dorfman, the famed mental coach who won two World Series rings as an advisor to the 1989 A’s and the 1997 Marlins. A friend of Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold recently got a similar tattoo after hearing Murphy tout its meaning.
The number is the result of a monoalphabetic digit; take each letter of a word and assign it the value of that letter’s place in the alphabet. For example, A becomes 1, B becomes 2 and so on. Add up the values of all the letters and you get a number.
What does 200 represent?
“Fucking relentless.”
These are the Brewers. It’s tattooed all over them.
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