ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Jacob Misiorowski rushed out of the third base dugout, his long arms raised high, then hugged and jumped with his Milwaukee Brewers teammates on the diamond where they had just won the first World Series title in the franchise's 58 seasons.
“You're just floating, running out there on that field,” he said. “Your mind finally clears and you're like: Holy cow, we did it!”
Misiorowski pitched with poise Wednesday when he couldn't overwhelm with punishing heat, overcoming Tampa Bay batters and the Tropicana Field mound.
On a night when he tied his career low with only two strikeouts, baseball's hardest-throwing starting pitcher tossed two-hit ball over 5 2/3 scoreless innings before leaving because of a leg cramp with a four-run lead. The Brewers went on to a 4-1 victory in Game 5.
“I joke and label him Forrest Gump because he goes about his day: `Dee-dee-dee, and just, I’m going to do it.' And he just does it,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy marveled. “But he worked really hard developing who he was. He worked in the weight room and he got himself better.”
Completing a record-setting season that likely will earn him the NL Cy Young Award next month, the 24-year-old right-hander reached 100 mph with 51 of 86 pitches, including 30 of 101 mph or more, an even dozen that reached 102 mph and a pair of 103 mph offerings.
“It was insane," he said. "I woke up this morning and I felt like throwing up from the beginning. I felt awful. My fiancée was amazing today. She helped me out, get through this and really made sure I got what I needed. It was amazing.”
Tampa Bay's grounds crew made several trips to fill in a divot on the mound that the wiry 6-foot-7 pitcher created with the long stride of his left leg. He finally came out, accompanied by head athletic trainer Brad Epstein, after a cramp in his right calf — similar to an ailment that forced Misiorowski from a pair of May starts.
Misiorowski went 2-0 with a 0.84 ERA in the Series, striking out just five in 10 2/3 innings, showing the toll of pitching 193 2/3 innings over the regular season and postseason — up from 141 1/3 innings last year.
“He’s not even scratching the surface of how good this kid can be,” Murphy said. “He’s got so much more to work on, and he kind of has an inkling of that.”
The Miz made the 2025 All-Star team just a month after his debut and went 5-3 with a 4.36 ERA and 87 strikeouts in 66 innings, then dominated batters this season.
"I'm someone that has been able to tell him things how they are to his face, and I think he needs that," said Milwaukee catcher William Contreras, the Series MVP. "Jacob is still a kid. Jacob is still young, and he's still learning in his career."
Misiorowski finished the regular season with a 16-5 record and became just the fourth pitcher since 1950 to lead the majors in ERA (1.80), strikeouts (252) and opponents' batting average (.157).
“He won the trust of the players this year,” Murphy said. “They saw him work. They saw him come in 30 pounds heavier. They saw the work he does in between his starts and he won the trust of the ballplayers. And when you win that trust — I don’t care how talented you are, when you win that trust, you can help us.”
Misiorowski threw 1,115 pitches 100 mph or faster this year, shattering the previous high of 673 by Jordan Hicks of St. Louis in 2018 — including a 105.5 mph blazer to the Chicago Cubs' Pete Crow-Armstrong on June 27.
“It isn’t easy for a young kid with that much expectation,” Murphy said. “Every time he goes out and doesn’t touch 105, people are like: `What’s wrong?'”
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