The Milwaukee Brewers got wins from Jacob Misiorowski in two of their biggest games of the season.
First, he started Game 1 of the World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays and got the victory.
And then “The Miz” was out there again in Game 5 of the World Series, the winning pitcher in the game that clinched the first World Series title in Brewers history.
He bookended the World Series with victories, which feels like as good of a case for the World Series MVP as any.
William Contreras, Misiorowski’s catcher, actually won the award, though. “The Miz” will have to settle for the championship and his role in it without an extra trophy.
Why Didn’t Jacob Misiorowski Win World Series MVP?
This was always going to be a tough series for a pitcher to win the award, because the hitters stood out so much.
In addition to Contreras, Jackson Chourio and Cooper Pratt both had strong cases for the MVP award, too.
Contreras batted .381 for the series, but he’s also a catcher, and he was fantastic on that side of the ball, too. Contreras threw out four runners attempting to steal bases. He also won 10-of-13 ball-strike challenges, and he managed the pitching staff well, including Misiorowski.
In the clinching Game 5, Contreras had an RBI double.
“He’s our pit bull,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said of Contreras after the game to reporters, via ESPN. “You don’t just walk up and pet him. There’s a chance you get nipped.”
Chourio went 11-for-24 in the World Series, which sets a record for the most hits by a player in a five-game World Series. He was also a menace on the base paths and strong in left field.
Pratt hit the go-ahead home run in the 12th inning of Game 4 that didn’t stand up, and he went on a run of six hits in consecutive at bats, which set a World Series rookie record. Pratt also tied the World Series rookie record with seven RBI, and he had a go-ahead RBI hit in Game 3, Game 4 and Game 5.
So really, any of those hitters could’ve been MVP.
Misiorowski, with just two outings compared to five games played for those guys, needed to be absolutely dominant to win the MVP, and he was instead just very good.
Jacob Misiorowski Stats
Misiorowski was getting his fastball up to 103 miles per hour but he wasn’t getting the strikeouts that he did during the regular season. That might’ve impacted how dominant he seemed to the voters.
In Game 1, Misiorowski allowed one run in 5.0 innings and struck out three.
In Game 5, he went 5.2 scoreless innings with two strikeouts.
He allowed a total of six hits and two walks in 10.2 innings.
Misiorowski had to leave Game 5 with cramps in his right calf, or maybe he would’ve played a bigger role in the MVP voting.
But given all of the Contreras intangibles and leadership in addition to his feats on the field, it feels like Contreras was set all along to be the winner. Misiorowski played a huge role, though, and Brewers fans won’t soon forget that.
Why Jacob Misiorowski Didn’t Win World Series MVP Over William Contreras