Even in defeat, Jacob Misiorowski gave the Brewers something to dream on

The Milwaukee Brewers' season is officially on the brink. After losing Thursday's game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, they now trail in their NLCS best-of-seven series 3-0. They'll need to win four games in a row to advance to the World Series. It might be foolish to completely dismiss the odds of the team that finished the regular season with the best record in baseball, but the odds of them coming back from this deficit against this Dodgers team are practically zero.

A large majority of the blame for how this series has gone has to be placed on the shoulders of the position players. The Brewers have scored just one run in each of the three games thus far, meaning pitchers would've had to have been perfect against a loaded Dodgers lineup for Milwaukee to have won any of them.

The pitchers have not been perfect, but for the most part, they've been quite good. Jacob Misiorowski, especially, gave Brewers fans something to dream about with his dominant Game 3 performance.

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Jacob Misiorowski looked like a budding star vs. Dodgers

Misiorowski, a starter throughout most of his professional career thus far, came out of the bullpen on Thursday and was immediately thrust into a sticky situation. The Dodgers took an immediate 1-0 lead in the first inning on back-to-back extra-base hits from Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts, so by the time Misiorowski entered, the Dodgers had a lead, two men on, only one out and two good hitters due up. Instead of letting L.A. tack onto its lead, Misiorowski struck out both Tommy Edman and Teoscar Hernandez, limiting the damage. This would set the tone for what proved to be an outstanding outing for the right-handed phenom.

Misiorowski would retire 13 of the next 14 batters he'd face across four frames, striking out seven of those batters. This means that he retired 15 of the first 16 batters he faced in the appearance, with nine strikeouts across five absurd innings. The only baserunner reached on a softly hit seeing-eye single in the second inning. The next three batters reached to start the sixth, two of whom scored (one thanks to an errant pick-off attempt from Abner Uribe), putting a bit of a damper on his night. but what Misiorowski was able to do from the moment he came into the game until one out in the sixth was ridiculous.

He made a lineup full of All-Stars that everyone thinks is "breaking baseball" look like Minor Leaguers for most of his outing. He was in command, unlike few we've seen this postseason. That has to feel good, even in a loss.

When Jacob Misiorowski is throwing strikes, he's tough to hit

This kind of outcome, as crazy as this might sound, doesn't even shock me that much. Misiorowski has some of the best stuff in the game - he's been considered a top prospect for quite a while for a reason. His command, though, has always held him back.

In games in which he's been able to command his pitches, he's really tough to hit. He did not walk a single batter through his first five innings of work on Thursday, and only started to lose the zone a bit when he was running out of gas. Misiorowski threw a fastball as hard as 102.5 mph and his slider maxed out at 96.5 mph with absurd movement. Even his curveball was clocked at almost 90 mph. MLB hitters hit velocity now better than ever, but the kind of velocity and movement Misiorowski has on his pitches is not normal even by 2025 standards.

Misiorowski had a 6.06 ERA in his final seven regular-season appearances largely because he issued 17 walks in 33.2 innings of work. He gave up more hits than he might've liked, but the walks were really what got him into trouble: He issued nearly 5.0 BB/9, which is way too big a number. He threw strikes on Thursday, and when he's able to do so while staying out of the middle of the plate, he's so, so good.

If this were a one-off, perhaps it'd be easy to overloook, but Misiorowski has been great all postseason long.

Jacob Misiorowski is the future Brewers' ace

Misiorowski has allowed a total of three runs (two earned) in 12 postseason innings, posting a sparkling 1.50 ERA and 2.30 FIP in those outings. Perhaps more amazingly, he has 16 strikeouts compared to three walks in October. Despite all of the adrenaline that comes from being a 23-year-old pitching in your first-ever postseason, Misiorowski is throwing strikes consistently and is dominating elite competition.

These are ace-like performances Misiorowski is putting together. Sure, he's pitched exclusively as a bulk reliever, and we haven't seen him go beyond five innings in an appearance yet, but how much more could you ask for from a 23-year-old rookie, especially when considering the fact that his last two appearances have come in a winner-take-all game against the Cubs and on the road in a game the Brewers desperately had to have at Dodger Stadium?

He might not be an ace yet, but performances like this prove that he has an ace-like ceiling. This is Freddy Peralta's rotation right now, but Misiorowski has next. Even if this series doesn't end how Brewers fans want it to, they have to sleep pretty well at night knowing Misiorowski is ready to anchor the rotation for the better part of the next decade.