Admit it, the Milwaukee Brewers have shocked you! Every night it’s a win; every night another story. The reality is they are now the team that is embarrassing the “big spenders of the league.” Because here you have someone, with the tenth-lowest payroll in baseball, managing a 14-game winning streak. The longest streak of their franchise, even! They just recently fell to the Reds, but that was too close with 3-2 in extra innings.

In doing that, they didn’t just win games; they exposed baseball’s big daddies when it comes to payroll. The Dodgers, Yankees, and even the Mets are what they are—teams chasing without proper formulas. Because the Dodgers and Yankees each spend about three times what the Brewers do, it’s the Brewers sitting at 78-45, not LA nor New York.

Moreover, what’s shocking is also that this team is not led by any one superstar. So no, they don’t have Aaron Judge or Shohei Ohtani leading them. And honestly, that seems to have worked the magic, as they are grinding all together. Eight of those 14 wins came as comebacks—just pure willpower and execution.

And it’s not smoke and mirrors, as The Athletic also said, “There’s a lesson here, if anyone in baseball cares to heed it. The lesson is in every ball the Brewers put in play and every runner they advance, every cutoff man they hit and every extra base they take…they at least try to play the game properly at a time when most teams place too little emphasis on fundamentals and too much on the next big analytical thing.” So, in other words, the Brewers are winning because they are playing the game the right way in a time when everyone is chasing exit velocity and the fastball spin rates. That is not to say that the stats don’t matter because they do, and the Brewers have themselves leaned on data.

However, for now, that secret sauce through which they are winning is old school. The defense, baserunning, situational hitting, and of course, Pat Murphy, who has built the team identity around a certain thought, which he calls “average Joes playing hard.” And it makes sense, because they don’t have such superstars. Meanwhile, LA and the Yankees have loaded rosters full of MVPs and All-Stars, and yet they keep stumbling. The Yankees’ bullpen is shaky, and without Judge working his magic, they falter. The Dodgers are only now finding their rhythm, or they have even lost to the Angels, who they say are their little brother.

Milwaukee has proved that they don’t need $300 million to get the spotlight. So maybe it’s time for MLB to stop laughing at them and start taking notes. Because they are putting even the giants to shame. And much of the credit, apart from the players, goes to Murphy.

Milwaukee Brewers’ secret sauce to the franchise record-breaking success!

If you ask the Milwaukee Brewers manager, Pat Murphy, what the magic formula is behind this insane success, he says, “It certainly isn’t me. We didn’t spend money. We dropped money. That’s just who we are. If we play this way, maybe we get a shot, maybe we don’t.” However, that’s just saying, because if you look closely, Murphy’s fingerprint is all over the team. And they follow what Murphy calls the “orange life saver” approach.

It’s all about those red candies getting all the attention, but let’s not forget about the underrated orange ones waiting to shine! Murphy shared that he likes to go for the underrated orange ones, targeting players that other teams tend to overlook. This is what has really paid off for them. They hardly depend on homegrown talent, with just seven out of their 26-man roster coming from their own system. They’ve got 13 players acquired through trades, ranking them third in the league. Andrew Vaughn is a player who didn’t quite find his groove with the Chicago White Sox, but now he’s become a reliable hitter.

Quin Priester has transformed from a pitcher with a 6.46 ERA into a dependable asset for the team. Issac Collins, who has been making waves in the minors, might just snag the NL Rookie of the Year title at the age of 28. What’s exciting is that a lot of these players are fresh and eager to make their mark. They’ve got one of the freshest batting lineups after parting ways with veterans like Devin Williams and Willy Adames. Murphy can talk all he wants, but there’s no denying they played a savvy game.