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Jacob Misiorowski
While the Brewers will be attempting to close out another NL Central crown over the next two months, they’re also a frontrunner to take home one of the season’s most prestigious individual awards.
Even after the Brewers took their foot off the gas with him and allowed him to pitch just four times in July Jacob Misiorowski still stands out as a candidate to be baseball’s best pitcher in 2026 and Peacock’s pregame show for Sunday’s game against the Angels said he has “all but locked up” the National League Cy Young Award.
Despite the Brewers’ loss on Sunday Misiorowski continued to add to his resume. He needed just 83 pitches to get through seven innings, allowed just three baserunners and struck out ten opposing batters, becoming the first Brewer in franchise history to reach double digit strikeouts 10 times in a single season. It’s likely he’ll pass 200 strikeouts for the season in his next start and he remains on pace to cruise by Ben Sheets’ franchise record of 264 in a single season. He’s the MLB leader in strikeouts (195), ERA (1.63), hits allowed per nine innings (4.5) and walks and hits per inning pitched (0.732).
Premature Claims
Even with all of his accomplishments to date, however, any claims that Misiorowski has “locked up” the Cy Young Award are likely a bit premature, especially if the Brewers continue to handle him with care down the stretch. Here are some of the other pitchers pursuing him for that honor:
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Misiorowski and Phillies starter Christoper Sanchez’s stories feel like they’ve been intertwined since the beginning after 2025’s controversy when then-rookie Misiorowski was selected to the All Star Game while Sanchez was not. This year they’re once again pursuing the same honor but in different ways: Misiorowski is more dominant (a 1.63 ERA and 13.8 strikeouts per nine innings compared to Sanchez’s 2.61 and 10.5) but Sanchez is perhaps the game’s most reliable ace, leading the majors with 144 ⅔ innings (Misiorowski has 127), making two more starts and pacing the majors with 14 wins. Sanchez isn’t appointment viewing the way Misiorowski has been but Baseball Reference estimates he’s been more valuable, crediting him with 5.9 Wins Above Replacement to Misiorowski’s 4.8. FanGraphs disagrees and has Misiorowski at 5.0 to Sanchez’s 4.6. The debate between the two is not all that different from when Corbin Burnes won the Cy Young in 2021 despite pitching 40 fewer innings than top contender Zack Wheeler. For what it’s worth, Wheeler and teammate Jesus Luzardo are also having the kind of seasons that merit award consideration.
Of course, no discussion of the NL’s top pitcher is complete without mentioning last season’s winner, Pirates ace Paul Skenes. Much has been made of a season where Skenes has looked slightly more mortal, dropping a little bit of velocity on his fastball and scuffling through a rough month of July. Even in his “down year,” however, FanGraphs rates him as the National League’s fourth most valuable pitcher and the advanced metrics all seem to agree he’s been better than his numbers would indicate. The Pirates have largely fallen out of the playoff chase and so Skenes is unlikely to spend much time in the spotlight in the season’s final months, but he has demonstrated the capacity to have the kind of dominant stretch that would push him back into this conversation.
The 2024 Cy Young Award winner is also still in the picture: Chris Sale’s career renaissance in Atlanta is continuing unabated in 2026 as the 37-year-old has a 2.08 ERA and is the best pitcher in the National League at preventing home runs, allowing just eight in 117 innings. Sale also works a relatively limited schedule (he hasn’t made 30 starts in a season since 2017) but with the Braves making a somewhat surprising push for the National League’s best record he also might get to pitch in bigger games in September and elevate his case.
Others on the fringe of the picture:
- If not for Misiorowski, 2026’s top pitching breakout story might be Reds 23-year-old Chase Burns, a first-time All Star with a 2.35 ERA across 21 starts.
- Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto fits in the “workhorse ace” category with Sanchez, as he’s third among NL pitchers with 133 ⅔ innings and averaging almost seven innings per start to lead all contenders.
- With so many solid starters it’s unlikely a reliever will sneak into the conversation, but Mason Miller of the Padres is the top contender to do so. He’s also a dynamic performer who has allowed runs in just five of his 45 appearances this season and struck out nearly half of the batters he’s faced.
