When one reflects on the National League Championship Series appearance and MLB-best 97 regular season wins that the Milwaukee Brewers achieved during the 2025 campaign, it is important to acknowledge the groundwork that David Stearns and Craig Counsell helped lay down. Savvy move-making, strong clubhouse chemistry and a balanced philosophical approach has helped establish one of the best cultures in baseball today. But what the team has done in the last two years is truly impressive.
Stearns and Counsell both left Milwaukee for more lucrative offers and bigger markets, leaving the Brew Crew bogged down in uncertainty. The previous infrastructure could have easily crumbled without the right men in charge. President of baseball operations Matt Arnold and manager Pat Murphy are not merely extensions of their predecessors. Their success stands on its own.
Arnold, who was recently promoted after serving the general manager post from 2024-25, won the Executive of the Year award, per USA Today's Bob Nightengale. He joins Murphy in earning the highest individual honor of his field for a second straight time, solidifying himself as one of the top front-office leaders in the league.
Arnold displayed impressive intuition with the 2025 Brewers
Although Milwaukee benefited greatly from its homegrown talent, which was assembled when Stearns was at the helm, Arnold still displayed deft decision-making skills before and during the season. He upgraded the starting pitching rotation by adding Quinn Priester and Jose Quintana, acquired scrappy rookie Caleb Durbin in the Devin Williams trade with the New York Yankees and injected new life into the lineup after swapping Aaron Civale for Andrew Vaughn in June.
The end result was one of the best years in franchise history. Yes, an offensively-anemic showing versus the eventual World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers obviously diminishes the joyous vibes, but the Brewers still smashed preseason expectations yet again. Matt Arnold has earned the city's trust as well as this esteemed accolade.
Milwaukee earnestly hopes he can do what those before him could not: win a championship. Arnold will try to print that very blueprint moving forward, for he surely wants more than regular season awards.
