MILWAUKEE -- Every start day was an event when Jacob Misiorowski took the mound during the Brewers’ record-setting 103-win regular season. Right down to the finale.
The 24-year-old Brewers ace got a standing ovation from a sellout crowd as he trotted to the dugout to warm up, and another as he walked off the mound following his final tune-up for the postseason in Sunday’s 6-4 Brewers win at American Family Field, having just struck out Cardinals star Jordan Walker to tie a bow on one of the most dominant seasons in history.
“It was a cool way to cap off the season,” Misiorowski said, before catching himself. “Obviously, it’s not done yet.”
But a remarkable regular season is in the books. With 5 1/3 more scoreless innings on two hits and two walks, with five strikeouts and a fastball up to 102.7 mph, the 6-foot-7 Brewers ace finished as the Major League leader in ERA (1.80), strikeouts (252), WHIP (0.80) and opponents’ average (.157) in 174 2/3 scintillating innings.
He joined Corbin Burnes (2021) as the only pitchers in Brewers franchise history to win MLB’s ERA title, and joined Justin Verlander (2019) and Pedro Martínez (2000) as the only pitchers in history with 250-plus strikeouts and a WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched) as low as 0.80.
And according to the Elias Sports Bureau, Misiorowski, Sandy Koufax (1965), J.R. Richard (1976) and Mike Scott (1986) are the only pitchers since 1950 to lead the Majors in ERA, strikeouts and opponents’ average. Misiorowski’s .157 opponents’ average is the lowest on record for a full season, surpassing Martínez’s .167 in his spectacular 2000 campaign.
You could keep going like that forever.
What was the highlight for Misiorowski?
“Getting to 103,” he said -- and he didn’t mean miles per hour.
The Brewers’ 103-59 record led Major League Baseball, with the second-best ERA (3.51) and second-most runs scored (832) despite hitting the second-fewest home runs (154). They won instead by sustaining rallies like they did in a three-run first inning, when second baseman Brice Turang logged his 100th RBI with one of the team’s six singles in that frame, and with pitching performances like the one delivered by Misiorowski, who fronted a starting rotation comprised almost entirely of pitchers who entered this season with less than two years of Major League service time.
“It’s incredible the way he’s handled his business,” said Turang. “He’s been a great teammate, and then he goes out there and does what he does and it’s just so impressive. He’s so gifted.”
Here are some other measures on record for pitchers who logged at least 170 innings in a season:
Strikeout rate
39.9% Gerrit Cole 2019
37.9% Misiorowski 2026
37.5% Pedro Martínez 1999
37.4% Randy Johnson 2001
36.8% Spencer Strider 2023
WHIP
0.74 Pedro Martínez 2000
0.78 Walter Johnson 1913
0.80 Misiorowski 2026
0.80 Justin Verlander 2019
0.81 Addie Joss 1908
Opponents’ average
.157 Misiorowski 2026
.167 Pedro Martínez 2000
.168 Luis Tiant 1968
.171 Nolan Ryan 1972
.172 Nolan Ryan 1991
.172 Justin Verlander 2019
For ERA, we’ll use 1969 as the starting point, since that’s the year MLB lowered the mound to its current height in response to “The Year of the Pitcher” in ‘68. Here is where Misiorowski fits among the best ERAs since then among pitchers who logged at least 170 innings:
1.53 Dwight Gooden 1985
1.56 Greg Maddux 1994
1.63 Greg Maddux 1995
1.66 Zack Greinke 2015
1.70 Jacob deGrom 2018
1.74 Pedro Martínez 2000
1.74 Ron Guidry 1978
1.75 Justin Verlander 2022
1.76 Tom Seaver 1971
1.77 Jake Arrieta 2015
1.80 Misiorowski 2026
1.82 Vida Blue 1971
1.83 Clayton Kershaw 2014
1.87 Roger Clemens 2005
***
Along the way, everybody had a favorite Miz moment.
Was it Opening Day against the White Sox, when he shook off a leadoff home run to deliver the first 11 of the Brewers 20 strikeouts to tie the Major League record for a nine-inning game? Or May 8 against the Yankees, when he leveled up against the likes of Aaron Judge and showed that big moments draw out bigger velocity? On May 19 at Wrigley Field, Misiorowski pitched the Brewers into first place in the NL Central for good. On May 31 in Houston, he threw seven scoreless innings to finish a month in which he posted a minuscule 0.23 ERA. He called it “decent.”
On June 6 at Colorado, he made it clear he was not leaving the mound until he was ready. Six days later at home, he came within a Kyle Schwarber single of throwing a perfect game in a 15-strikeout masterpiece against the Phillies that we’ll come back to. On June 26, he fired a 105.5 mph fastball at Pete Crow-Armstrong, tying for the third-fastest pitch in the Statcast era. And exactly one month later against the Rockies, Misiorowski struck out the first seven batters of the game and 12 of the first 13 in another dominant outing before a big crowd at home.
He struck out Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman at the pivotal juncture of an Aug. 15 win in Los Angeles that gave the Brewers the best record in baseball for good. He beat the Pirates at PNC Park on Sept. 15 on the night the Brewers clinched the NL Central for the fourth straight season. And he was even on the mound for a planned short start in Baltimore on Sept. 20 when the Brewers won their 98th game to set a new franchise record.
Whatever the Brewers did in 2026, Miz seemed to be right in the middle of it.
“I’m glad that I had a little talk with myself earlier in the year and said, ‘Don’t take this for granted,’” said Brewers rookie left-hander Shane Drohan. “This is an old, old, old game, and this guy’s doing something the game has never seen. And I get to sit in the dugout and watch.”
Drohan’s favorite moment was that 105.5 mph heater to Cubs star Crow-Armstrong, who was on his way to baseball’s seventh 40-40 season but is 1-for-13 lifetime against Misiorowski in the regular season. Misiorowski told reporters he slipped on the pitch. Drohan has been laughing about that ever since.
“I immediately grabbed the iPad and looked at every single angle of that pitch,” Drohan said. “I’m like, ‘You were screwed into the ground. There’s no way you slipped.’”
Another lefty, Robert Gasser, picked a game he didn’t even attend. He was preparing to start Opening Day for Triple-A Nashville the next day when Misiorowski took the mound in Milwaukee and served up a Chase Meidroth homer on the sixth pitch of the season.
Misiorowski responded by striking out the next three.
“Think about from then to now,” Gasser said. “I think it’s sick that he started off that way, as bad as it possibly could, but then it turned into one of the best seasons.”
In pitching coordinator Jim Henderson’s mind, Misiorowski’s season began to really take off against the Yankees. He had been dealing with leg cramps while pushing his body to new limits, but threw 10 fastballs at the Yankees and came within one strike of an immaculate first inning -- two strikeouts and a lineout on 10 pitches. None of the first-inning fastballs were below 102.4 mph. Misiorowski went on to pitch six scoreless innings on two hits.
“I think that’s the one where he went, ‘Oh, [shoot]. I can do this,’” Henderson said. “He sat at 102 the whole game. It was juicy.”
Then, of course, there was that June start against the Phillies.
“He ruined his perfect game by throwing a curveball,” reliever Aaron Ashby said.
That single pitch -- a Schwarber single -- was all that separated Misiorowski from perfection. Instead it was a 27-batter, 95-pitch shutout and a “Maddux” -- if Greg Maddux could throw 104.5 mph and strike out 15 with ease like Misiorowski did in a 6-0 win.
In a totally out-of-character moment for the superstitious Brewers owner, Mark Attanasio texted his two sons during the early innings of that game from his seats in the front row next to the Brewers' dugout.
“These hitters have no chance,” Attanasio wrote.
He was right.
“We had 40,000 people here that night, and we’re going to have, like, 140,000 saying they were here,” Attanasio said. “It ended and everybody stayed. Nobody wanted to leave. I’ll always remember that.”
“My favorite thing all season was the joy I saw on his face with William [Contreras, the catcher that night],” said Brewers lead pitching coach Chris Hook. “I’ve watched that clip a few times. There was something in that moment that solidified, ‘This is how good I can be.’ That embrace, the smile. That was it for me.”
It was manager Pat Murphy’s favorite Miz Day, too. Misiorowski was so dominant that Murphy received a postgame text from Schwarber that night, the contents of which remain between the two.
“It’s the way the young man has become stronger, more certain of himself,” Murphy said. “It’s a joy to watch it. He’s not a finished product, by any stretch. But he’s really jumped a lot of hurdles.”
Now comes the next hurdle: A postseason start. When Murphy was asked who would get the ball for Game 1 of the NLDS, just to see whether the skipper would confirm the obvious, he instead turned to his 7-year-old son Jaxon.
After a few moments, Jaxon announced his pick.
“Probably Logan Henderson,” he said.
“Logan Henderson would pitch Game 1 for you?” Dad asked. “You don’t want Miz in Game 1?”
“I want Miz to pitch!” Jaxon said.
So, Misiorowski it will be. Game 1 of the NLDS is Saturday, Oct. 3, at American Family Field against the winner of the Padres-Cubs NL Wild Card Series.
“Twenty years from now,” Drohan said, “I’m going to be bringing my son to his Little League baseball game and people are going to hear I played for the Milwaukee Brewers. They’re going to ask me about The Miz. Like, that’s going to happen.
“So we should take it all in.”