The Milwaukee Brewers are sticking with the arm that has carried them all season for the biggest opening stage yet.
When the 2026 World Series starts on Friday, Jacob Misiorowski will get the ball for Game 1, the team confirmed Tuesday. The 24-year-old right-hander is set to make the first Brewers World Series pitch since 1982.
Nobody should be surprised by the choice. Misiorowski has been the obvious anchor of Milwaukee’s rotation, and the Brewers have leaned on him in the same spot all year. He started Opening Day, the regular-season finale, Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the San Diego Padres, and Game 1 of the National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported the news on X, writing: “Zero surprise, but the Milwaukee Brewers make it official: Jacob Misiorowski, who will easily win the NL Cy Young award next month, will also be starting Game 1 of the World Series.”
Milwaukee has reached this point after a short playoff run that included a first-round bye, then a four-game win over San Diego in the NLDS and another four-game win over Los Angeles in the NLCS. So far in the postseason, Misiorowski has made two starts and posted a 3.24 ERA with an 11-to-4 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 8 1/3 innings.
The Brewers’ likely Game 1 opponent on the other side is Tampa Bay, though the Rays have not officially announced a starter yet. Drew Rasmussen has handled that job throughout October, taking the ball for Game 1 of both the ALDS and ALCS, and he also started Game 5 on Oct.
- In the playoffs, he has logged a 1.29 ERA with a 23-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio across 21 innings.
World Series Game 1 won’t be played until Oct. 23, which gives Rasmussen nearly full rest if Tampa Bay follows the pattern it has used all postseason. But for Milwaukee, the assignment is already settled: Misiorowski will lead the charge in the franchise’s first World Series game in more than four decades.
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