PITTSBURGH -- In May, Jacob Misiorowski pitched the Brewers into first place for good with a win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
In August, he pitched the Brewers to the best record in Major League Baseball with a win over the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Milwaukee hasn’t surrendered its perch since.
So, with their 24-year-old, 6-foot-7 ace in the midst of one of the best seasons for a pitcher in franchise history, the Brewers had the right man on the mound on the road to lay the groundwork for a big party on Tuesday night at PNC Park. Misiorowski delivered five more scoreless innings and the Brewers beat the Pirates, 5-1, then retreated to the clubhouse to watch the Cubs take a 6-3 loss to the Braves at Wrigley Field, the combination Milwaukee needed to extend its reign as king of the National League Central.
The division was formed in 1994, and the Brewers are the first team to win it four years in a row. They have also won it five of the last six years and six of the last nine.
“These things never get old, and doing it four years in a row with these guys means the world to me and everyone here,” said president of baseball operations Matt Arnold. “I appreciate them, and I appreciate everyone in Wisconsin being there for us, forever.”
The fans are drawn to players like Luis Lara and Joey Ortiz -- a rookie who didn’t arrive until July and a deposed shortstop who kept his head up and surged in the second half -- driving in two runs apiece from the bottom third of the batting order to back Misiorowski, who lowered his MLB-leading ERA to 1.89 and raised his MLB-leading strikeout total to 243. When the Cubs’ loss was in the books, the division crown once again belonged to the Brewers.
“This ‘26 club, there hasn’t been a spot where you say, ‘Wow, we’re really special,’” said manager Pat Murphy. “But it’s starting to grow on me.”
The team started to grow on him, Murphy said, when it went into Wrigley Field for that series in May and swept the Cubs to surge into first place. And he really began to believe after the Brewers were swept in San Diego in August during a series in which every move backfired, and rebounded to win three of four against the mighty Dodgers in Los Angeles.
Misiorowski figured prominently in victories in both of those series.
And he figured prominently again on Tuesday.
“It’s only fitting, right?” said Brandon Woodruff, the staff veteran who still hasn’t closed the door on pitching again this year. “I think we get a little desensitized to what he does on the mound every five days. We’ve never seen anybody like him. We’re getting ready for October, and he’s going to lead the way for us.”
Misiorowski led the way on clinch night. He struck out the first four batters he faced and five of the first six on the way to five scoreless innings, with five hits, one walk and seven strikeouts. Along the way, Misiorowski passed 1987’s Teddy Higuera (240) for third-most strikeouts on the franchise’s single-season leaderboard.
“He’s just matured so much,” Murphy said. “That’s another thing that’s so gratifying, to see these young people step into a new way of doing things. He got stronger. He’s way more mature. He’s really consistent. And he’s still learning.”
There’s still plenty to play for. Besides attempting to hold off the Dodgers, Rays, Braves and Yankees for the best record in the sport -- and home-field advantage throughout the postseason -- the Brewers (94-57) have some franchise milestones in sight. They are within striking distance of the franchise record for wins (97, set last year) and the first 100-win season for an NL Central club since the Cubs won 103 games in 2016. That was the year Chicago ended its century-long World Series drought.
The Brewers have been working on ending their own drought. They haven’t been to the World Series since 1982, and are one of five current MLB franchises still seeking a championship, with the Mariners, Padres, Rays and Rockies.
What makes this team so special?
“I couldn’t tell you. I’ve been trying to figure it out all year,” Misiorowski said. “We’re just a scrappy bunch that puts the ball in play and hopes for the best.”
Does he like that the Brewers are underestimated?
“I wouldn’t say they underestimate us anymore,” Misiorowski said.
Now that the Brewers have clinched, the coming weeks present a different kind of challenge. They will try to rest their weary players -- including Misiorowski, whose 166 1/3 innings are a career high -- while preventing the creep of any rust.
But this latest step is complete.
“Whatever was going to happen, we were going to do this inevitably,” Murphy said. “We’ve got 11 games to go, and those are important, too. We have a lot of things to tighten up. But it’s gratifying to see the guys know what they’ve achieved.”
What they’ve achieved was once the stuff of other big league cities, but not Milwaukee, where fans waited 26 years between the heartbreak of Game 7 of the 1982 World Series and a return to October baseball in 2008. Owner Mark Attanasio on Tuesday night recalled his first visit to PNC Park for the final series in 2005, the first season after he purchased the team from the Selig family. The Brewers won the opener of that series to officially end a streak of 12 consecutive losing seasons. But a winning season remained elusive. The Brewers lost the next two days and finished 81-81.
“If you want to talk about an arc of success, now you clinch a playoff spot and there's a champagne toast,” Attanasio said, referring to last week’s quiet celebration after the club punched a ticket to the postseason. “Back then, we were ready to celebrate getting to .500. [We are] a long way from celebrating a .500 record, I’ll tell you that.”