Play Ball, Doc! In Your Chiropractic and Healthcare Practice.

What the Brewers can teach your team about winning

(Dateline: Whitefish Bay, WI)

I've always liked sports. Football, baseball, basketball, you name it. Even chess.

But not golf. That's not a sport. That's punishment.

Games thrill us because we might win.   

But games also mirror life: the challenges, losses, wins, players, roles, and rules. And of course, the stats!

You can learn a lot about life, your career, and your business by comparing what you do to what makes an athletic team successful.

The Milwaukee Brewers

I live in Whitefish Bay, just north of Milwaukee.

The Milwaukee Brewers just won the National League pennant. They're going to the World Series ! – and nearly everyone here in Wisconsin is beyond excited about it.

The Brewers' win was special and noteworthy.

They beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4 games in a row. They won against a team that spent more than twice the Brewers' payroll.

So what gave our small-market club the edge? Three things, and a bonus fourth I'll save for the end.

The Winner's Edge

1) The Manager. Pat Murphy, a former college coach at Notre Dame and Arizona State, has spent over 40 years developing overlooked players. He's no softie. But his players know he's on their side, and that he's there to make them better.

2) The Systems. Craig Counsell, his staff (including Pat Murphy as bench coach), and the front office built the Brewers' player development system during Counsell's tenure (2015-2023). When Counsell left the team in 2023, the system stayed, and the team kept winning. (Counsell is a Whitefish Bay native, Class of '88!)

3) The Purpose. When owner Mark Attanasio bought the team in 2005, the Brewers hadn't made the playoffs in over two decades. He set out to raise expectations, hired good people, gave them authority, and held them accountable. The goal: a World Series. The why: the fans. As pitcher Brandon Woodruff put it, "We do it for the fans."*

Your Chiropractic and Heatlhcare Practice

Like the Brewers, your chiropractic and healthcare practice is a team and needs a clear purpose. It needs routine procedures and policies that are followed consistently and kept in place.

And it needs someone to ensure each team member performs these procedures excellently. In other words, it needs a competent manager.

But what else?

The Game

Well, as Manager Pat Murphy put it, "They may have a bunch of Hall of Famers, but we've got a bunch of gamers."**

What are "gamers"? Gamers are players who play to win.

4) The Game. Does your team have a year-end game? Do you have a game plan for the 1st quarter of 2027? If so, does your team know about it?

Keep your purpose alive, ensure you have well-defined, well-known systems, and get a competent manager.

Then… have fun playing the game of helping more people – and be the gamers and winners in health care in your area.

We can help you and your team with all four.

And like the Brewers, be Goal Driven!

Ed and all of us at PM&A

•   Murphy’s “gamers” quote: Bleacher Report, Oct. 16, 2026 *

•     Woodruff’s quote: Spectrum News 1, Oct. 16, 2026 **