There is no NL Cy Young race. There is Jacob Misiorowski, and then there is a group of very good pitchers competing for second place.
The Brewers right-hander is sitting on a sub-2.00 ERA with 227 strikeouts across roughly 155 innings. Those numbers are not merely leading the league. They are the kind of season that gets remembered by name a decade later.
The betting market agrees, and it has only hardened as the season has gone on. Misiorowski is a heavy favorite at around -1400, with Chris Sale and Cristopher Sanchez well behind him. Nobody is closing that gap in three weeks.
The strikeout pace is historic
Misiorowski reached 200 strikeouts in 129 1/3 innings this season. Only one pitcher in modern history got there faster: Spencer Strider needed 123 1/3 innings in 2022.
That is the company. One name, and it belongs to a season people still talk about.
The stuff explains it. Misiorowski throws a fastball that touches triple digits and a slider that generates whiffs at an elite rate, and hitters have not solved either pitch. When a pitcher has two plus-plus offerings and throws strikes, there is no adjustment available at the plate.
The innings total is the only argument against him
If you want to build a case for someone else, it starts and ends with workload. He is averaging a shade over six innings per outing, and voters have historically penalized pitchers who do not go deep.
That argument is weaker every year. The modern game does not ask starters to throw 220 innings anymore, and punishing a pitcher for how his manager uses him is a poor way to evaluate performance. A sub-2.00 ERA with that strikeout rate is more valuable than 200 mediocre innings, and most voters now understand that.
What it means for Milwaukee
The Brewers own the best record in baseball, and their ace is the primary reason. Milwaukee has done this before, developing frontline pitching on a payroll that should not permit it, and then watching that pitching leave.
For now they have a legitimate ace entering October, which is the single most valuable thing a small-market team can own in the postseason. A short series with Misiorowski starting twice is a real path to the World Series.
The bigger point
Awards are fun and they do not matter much. What matters is that Milwaukee has the best pitcher in the National League at the exact moment the playoffs start, on a team built to win now.
Give him the trophy in November. The interesting part happens in October.
Sources
- https://www.si.com/fannation/mlb/fastball/news/brewers-jacob-misiorowski-adds-historic-feat-to-nl-cy-young-campaign-justin3
- https://reviewingthebrew.com/2026-nl-cy-young-race-update-ahead-of-jacob-misiorowski-s-start-against-cubs-01m20n6gpbw5
- https://www.bleachernation.com/betting/2026/08/14/26-nl-cy-young-odds-8-14/
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
