PETERSBURG, Fla. -- When the Brewers took the field for Game 5 of the World Series, they did so with their ace on regular rest. All that stood between them and their first World Series championship was a win with the best possible formula that they could draw up on the lineup card. If there was any question, it was if Misiorowski could channel some of his early season magic.
In the playoffs, he hadn't been bad, but hadn't been nearly as dominant as in the regular season. He also hadn't gone more than five innings in a start. He stepped up, as championship-caliber athletes do.
He was forced to leave the game late in the sixth inning due to calf cramp, but the Brewers already had a 4-0 lead (the eventual final score) and handed things off to their elite bullpen on cruise control. Misiorowski came through with 5 ⅔ innings of scoreless ball, allowing only two hits. He stifled the Rays until the game felt like it was elementary.
Only two pitchers have ever recorded a scoreless start of 5+ innings with two or fewer hits allowed in a potential World Series clincher: Misiorowski and some guy named Tom Glavine in 1995. And behind their ace, the inevitable Brewers are World Series champions. "It's awesome," Misiorowski said on the field after the Brewers clinched.
"It's awesome for this team, it's awesome for the city of Milwaukee. It didn't matter how we won tonight, just that we won." There were questions in the aftermath of Game 4 about whether Brewers manager Pat Murphy should have brought Misiorowski in for the bottom of the 12th to close things out. There shouldn't have been.
The Brewers were up 3-0 in the series. Losing Game 4 meant they had full-strength Misiorowski waiting to close the door in Game 5. Unsurprisingly, he did exactly that, despite likely being on fumes from his 2026 workload.
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