There is validity to Pat Murphy's Brewers-Dodgers underdog 'bit'

MILWAUKEE — On the cusp of an NL Championship Series that features the best team (Brewers) vs. the most talented team (Dodgers), Pat Murphy and Dave Roberts engaged in a predictable but entertaining verbal battle.

Two of baseball’s best managers know each other well from their days together on the 2015 Padres’ coaching staff, and their good-natured byplay made for an amusing series-setting sideshow. (Side note: The Padres, incidentally, hired neither, letting go of Murphy as interim, and have since tried five other short-time skippers counting Mike Shildt, who stunned folks Monday by announcing he was leaving San Diego — oops!)

Murphy, late to his media session, explained that he needed extra time (and probably another off day, too!) to study how to combat such a formidable foe, then p