Everybody Rowing Together
What the Brewers Know About Culture
Everybody on the same page. Accountability, even when it's hard.
Talent gets you noticed. Accountability gets you through October.
Every successful organization has to get everybody on the same page. Everybody rowing together. Everybody pulling in the same direction. And when someone drifts off course, someone has to hold them accountable. First the leader. Ultimately, the team.
The 2026 Milwaukee Brewers are proving it in real time.
A Team Nobody Predicted
The Brewers were not supposed to be this good. Preseason forecasts were lukewarm. Instead, Milwaukee won a franchise-record 103 games, took the NL Central for the fourth straight year, and led all of baseball in run differential.
They did it without leaning on star power or home runs. Milwaukee hit fewer homers than every team but one.
So how do you win 103 games without the long ball and without a roster full of headline names?
Manager Pat Murphy gave the answer in two words: everybody rowing.
According to Murphy, the organization identifies when players aren't rowing together and isn't afraid to have the tough conversation. In his words: "We call out people that aren't rowing in the same direction."
That's the whole culture in one sentence.
No Hero Ball
ESPN's Bradford Doolittle described the Brewers' offense as a team approach that adjusts to whatever the situation needs. Nobody tries to do too much. Nobody slips into "hero ball," where ego takes over in a big moment.
Murphy calls it passing the baton. If a pitcher won't give a hitter something to swing at, the hitter takes the walk and trusts the next guy.
The numbers back it up. The Brewers led the majors in RBI rate and drove in 71 more runs than expected, 29 more than any other team.
Outfielder Garrett Mitchell put it plainly. Milwaukee isn't the biggest market and doesn't have all the big-name stars. What they have is a group that works together better than anyone else.
That's selfless over selfish. And it wins.
Accountability Beats Talent
How many times have we watched an extremely talented team fall apart?
They have the roster. They have the payroll. They have the headlines. But they don't play as a team. They don't share the same beliefs or the same disciplines. Some of them are selfish instead of selfless.
Who cares how talented they are?
If they aren't held accountable, they tear the team down from the inside. They can't score when they need to. They can't get a stop when they need to.
When one person starts going against the grain, it is the fastest way to destroy what so many people worked so long to build. That's why accountability can matter more than anything. On a team, it often matters more than talent.
The Standard Applies to Everyone
Murphy doesn't just talk about it. He enforces it.
This season he pulled William Contreras, one of his most accomplished players, from a game for not running hard on a ground ball. The next night, Contreras hit a routine grounder, sprinted down the line, and dove headfirst into first base. He was out. His teammates tried not to laugh. Murphy laughed in the dugout.
He did the same with rookie Cooper Pratt in August. Rookie or veteran, same rule. Christian Yelich, the team's newly named captain, summed it up: "You have to be a certain kind of player to play for Murph and to play here."
The standard was enforced.
The player answered.
The relationship held.
Culture Shows Up When Things Go Wrong
Here is the real payoff of a strong culture.
When adversity hits, someone has to pick somebody else up. Someone has to step in when a teammate is down. On teams that were never held accountable to shared beliefs, disciplines, and loyalty, nobody steps up. Nobody steps in the gap. Nobody picks up the slack.
After Pratt was benched, teammates including Sal Frelick checked on him. The accountability came from the leader. The support came from the team. That's how it's supposed to work.
And the Brewers know adversity. Last October, the Dodgers swept them in the NLCS, holding Milwaukee to four runs in the entire series. This year's team didn't blow up the approach. It got better at it. Murphy noted that nobody predicted them to win and the team takes that personally.
Accountability without relationship is just punishment. Relationship without accountability is just friendship. Winning cultures need both.
What This Means for Your Organization
You don't need a dugout to apply this. You need a standard and the courage to enforce it.
Define the standard out loud. People can't row together if they don't know where the boat is going.
Call it when someone stops rowing. Have the tough conversation early, before drift becomes damage.
Enforce it equally. Your top performer and your newest hire play by the same rules. The moment you exempt the star, the culture is gone.
Kill hero ball. Reward the person who passes the baton, not just the one who takes the big swing.
Build the relationship before you need it. Correction lands when trust already exists.
Let the team own it. The strongest cultures don't wait for the leader. Teammates hold each other accountable and pick each other up.
The Expect to Win Takeaway
Mindset sets the standard. People carry it. Data shows whether you're living it. Results follow.
The Brewers didn't win 103 games because they had the most talent in baseball. They won because everybody knows the standard, everybody is held to it, and everybody pulls in the same direction.
So here's the question for you this week:
If your best performer stopped rowing tomorrow, would anyone on your team say something?
If the answer is no, that's where the work starts.
Expect to Win.
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Sources
- Bradford Doolittle, "MLB playoffs 2026: Is this the Milwaukee Brewers' year?" ESPN, Oct. 4, 2026: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/50093592/mlb-2026-playoffs-milwaukee-brewers-postseason-different
- Zach Sweet, "How Murphy's stern, authentic style has helped unlock Brewers' success," MLB.com, Sept. 28, 2026: https://www.mlb.com/news/pat-murphy-s-unique-managing-style-resonating-with-brewers-players
