The Milwaukee Brewers will have their ace on the mound as the 2026 World Series gets underway on Friday, Oct. 23 against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Flamethrowing right-hander Jacob Misiorowski, a near-lock for the National League Cy Young award, will look to give the Brewers an early advantage in their quest to win the first World Series in franchise history.
While Milwaukee has won both of Misiorowski's first two postseason starts, he's been far from the overpowering pitcher he was in the regular season.
Against both the Padres and Dodgers, the 24-year-old was unable to get through five innings while throwing 88 and 94 pitches and giving up a total of three earned runs.
What can we expect from The Miz in this year's World Series?
Jacob Misiorowski stats
Misiorowski was incredibly dominant during his 30 regular-season starts in 2026.
He tied for third in the majors this season with 16 wins, but perhaps the most eye-opening stat is that his ratio of walks plus hits to innings pitched (WHIP) was the lowest by a major league starter since Pedro Martinez in 2000.
- Record: 16-5
- ERA: 1.80 (led majors)
- WHIP: 0.80 (led majors)
- Strikeouts: 252 (led majors)
- Strikeouts per 9 innings (K/9): 13.0 (led majors)
In addition, Misiorowski's four-seam fastball averaged 100.6 mph this season, the highest by far of any major league starting pitcher.
More: Milwaukee braces for first World Series in generations: 'People are losing their minds'
Jacob Misiorowski in the 2026 postseason
Granted it's a very small sample, but Misiorowski has a 3.24 ERA and 1.56 WHIP in his two playoff starts, both no-decisions.
Perhaps the main reason he hasn't been as dominant as he was during the 2026 regular season, as MLB.com's David Adler points out, is that he hasn't been racking up swinging strikes anywhere near as often.
Misiorowski threw his fastball 60% of the time during the regular season, more often than any other starting pitcher. He also got swings and misses on an incredible 40% of his four-seamers. But in two postseason starts, that whiff rate has dropped to 16% as Padres and Dodgers hitters excelled at fouling those pitches off − even though 96 of his 122 fastballs were clocked at 100 mph or higher.
How successful Misiorowski is at getting Rays hitters to swing and miss could be one of the keys to Game 1.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jacob Misiorowski's velocity intact, strikeouts down so far in playoffs