MILWAUKEE – The greatest show on the sand, silt, and clay of the pitcher's mound these days is Milwaukee Brewers right-handed force of nature Jacob Misiorowski. The 24-year-old is not just the best pitcher in the world in 2026, he's also the most viscerally overwhelming pitcher in the world. Misiorowski on Friday at the Brewers' home yard squared off against Chris Sale, one of the best at his craft and a pitcher some 13 years Misiorowski's senior.
It was not only a clash of aces, it was also a duel between two of the best teams in baseball. The 40,130 in attendance -- marking the 16th Milwaukee sell-out of the season (and this one on weekday afternoon) – surely knew it meant a little more than most August games do. Beyond the importance of the outcome -- Milwaukee won 2-1 -- and what it meant to a Brewers team trying to fend off the Cubs and secure top seed throughout the postseason and a Braves team angling to secure a bye, it was a Misiorowski start.
No matter the opponent, that's appointment viewing these days. If you were watching, here's what you saw. Working from the first base side of the rubber, Misiorowski opens with a 101.8 mph fastball to greet Braves leadoff hitter Ronald Acuña Jr.
Misiorowski will go to the fastball with all five pitches that Acuña sees -- all triple digits, and four of them out of the zone. Acuña flicks away the only strike, one on the outside sliver of the zone, and works a walk. With most starting pitchers, we'd note that they'd now be working from the stretch.
Misirowski, though, is unusual among starting pitchers in that he always works from the stretch. Perhaps, with his long levers and maxed-out stuff, keeping it simple is the soundest approach. It's certainly impossible to argue with the results, just as it's impossible to argue with the Brewers' faculties when it comes to pitching development.
On Misiorowski's sixth pitch of the game, he finally departs from the fastball and presents Drake Baldwin with a 98-mph cutter. Two offerings later, he goes to the slider for the first time on Friday. It's not his fully gassed-up slider.
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