Jacob Misiorowski is the Brewers best chance at Craig Counsell revenge

Craig Counsell leaving the Milwaukee Brewers for the Chicago Cubs, of all teams, really stung. Brewers fans understand Counsell leaving, especially given the handsome paycheck he received, but going from the Brewers to their biggest rivals is a hard pill to swallow, even with Pat Murphy, a great manager in his own right, taking Counsell's place. I mean, Counsell even went as far as to say managing the Cubs was his "dream job." Jacob Misiorowski breaking out and becoming the ace that Counsell's Cubs desperately need would give the Brewers the revenge they've been looking for.

Misiorowski, a former second-round pick in 2022, smack in the middle of Counsell's tenure in Milwaukee, might only be two starts into his MLB career, but could he have gotten off to a better start? Injury knocked him out of his MLB debut prematurely, but he held the St. Louis Cardinals without a hit in five electric innings. Eight days later, he's held the Minnesota Twins off the base paths entirely through six innings.

Yes, Misiorowski has six perfect innings under his belt as of this writing. He's fanned six Twins hitters and, as you might expect, has looked utterly dominant.

It's too early to make any definitive statements, but Misiorowski is looking like an ace already as a 23-year-old. Misiorowski developing into a legitimate frontline arm might be what gets Counsell to regret jumping ship, especially with the Cubs needing an ace of their own.

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Jacob Misiorowski is the Brewers best chance to make Craig Counsell regret betraying Milwaukee

Again, it's premature to label Misiorowski anything but an exciting rookie with absurd upside, but how can you not get ahead of yourself with a start like this? He has not allowed a single hit in his 11 MLB innings. You don't just luck into that kind of success.

The Cubs are in dire need of an arm like Misiorowski right now. Justin Steele, arguably their best pitcher, is out for the season. Shota Imanaga, their other frontline arm, is also hurt, and as a 31-year-old, it's fair to wonder how many elite years he has left. The Cubs have a rookie of their own, Cade Horton, but he hasn't looked close to as dominant as Misiorowski. They have other decent starters like Jameson Taillon and Matthew Boyd, but again, nobody in this Cubs rotation currently or even in their farm system has Misiorowski's ceiling.

The Brewers trail the Cubs in the NL Central standings, but a 5.0 game deficit is far from insurmountable, especially with Misiorowski making only two starts this season. The Brewers being this close to the Cubs with Misiorowski not making much of an impact yet has to be eye-opening to Counsell in some regard.

The Brewers have a future, if not current, ace in town, and all Counsell can do is watch from the opposing dugout or on TV and root against him.