Jacob Misiorowski’s breakout 2026 season ended with the game’s biggest individual pitching honor.
The Milwaukee Brewers ace was named the National League Cy Young Award winner, and he did it in unanimous fashion, collecting all 30 first-place votes. It’s another major piece of hardware for a Brewers team that kept piling up accolades after its impressive 2026 run.
Misiorowski entered the season as one of the leading names in the Cy Young conversation, and he spent most of the year backing it up. With a fastball that averaged 100.6 MPH and a nasty mix of breaking pitches, he looked like the most overpowering starter in MLB. For much of the race, the award appeared to be a three-man battle between Misiorowski, Cristopher Sánchez, and Chris Sale, the three pitchers named as NL Cy Young finalists.
The numbers tell the story of just how dominant he was. In 2026, the 6'7" right-hander went 16-5 with a 1.80 ERA across 174.1 innings.
He led all MLB pitchers in strikeouts with 252, in FIP at 2.17, and in shutouts with one. His 37.6% strikeout rate topped all qualified pitchers and was more than 3% better than the next closest arm, Dylan Cease.
Opposing hitters barely made a dent against him, posting just a .470 OPS.
The award also comes with a significant payday. Because Misiorowski is a pre-arbitration player, he’ll collect a $2.5 million bonus for winning the Cy Young, along with additional bonuses tied to his performance. The final total should land close to the $3.4 million figure Paul Skenes received for his 2025 Cy Young Award season.
Misiorowski’s year wasn’t limited to the regular season, either. He carried that dominance into October, going 2-0 with a 1.89 ERA in four postseason starts. The Brewers won all four of those games, including the championship-clinching Game 5 of the World Series.
That title-clinching outing added a rare line to his resume. With the Cy Young now in hand, Misiorowski became the first pitcher since 1988 to win a Cy Young Award and a World Series-clinching game. Orel Hershiser of the Dodgers was the last to do it, a note Joe Davis mentioned on the Fox Sports broadcast when Misiorowski left Game 5 with a 4-0 lead.
In his first full big league season, Misiorowski is already a World Champion and a Cy Young winner. For most pitchers, that would be a career-defining peak. For him, it looks like the beginning of something even bigger.
Only four active pitchers have won multiple Cy Young Awards: Max Scherzer, the lone three-time winner, along with Blake Snell, Jacob deGrom, and Tarik Skubal, who each have two. Misiorowski now has a strong case to join that group down the line.
And for the Brewers, having the best pitcher in baseball changes everything. With Misiorowski lined up as the Game 1 starter, they carry a real edge every time October rolls around.
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Jacob Misiorowski Had A Grateful Message After His Latest Brewers Milestone
Jacob Misiorowskis rise reached another level after a dominant 2026 season that put him at the center of the Brewers success. The right-hander, who finished with a 1.80 ERA and 252 strikeouts, added a World Series ring and a second All-Star selection to a year that already felt like a breakthrough, and he recently appeared on MLB Network to reflect on how far he has come.
Misiorowski used the moment to thank the people around him, pointing to the support of his family and agent as a big part of the journey. He also shared a few personal highlights from life since the season ended, a reminder that the Brewers newest star is still taking in everything that has happened even as his profile keeps climbing. [Read more 🡒]