The Dodgers announced Friday that Tarik Skubal starts NLCS Game 1 on Sunday at 8 p.m. ET at American Family Field, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto going in Game 2. Milwaukee has not made it official, but every indication points to Jacob Misiorowski.
That is the best pitching matchup available in October, and it exists because Los Angeles went out and bought half of it.
What Milwaukee Grew
Misiorowski is 24 and led the majors in 2026 in ERA at 1.80, strikeouts with 252, WHIP at 0.80 and opponent average at .157. He is a two-time All-Star, holds the record for the fastest pitch thrown by a starting pitcher at 105.5 mph, and on September 8 became the first pitcher to throw more than 1,000 pitches at 100-plus mph in a season.
Against San Diego in the NLDS his four-seamer averaged 101.2 mph and topped out at 104.8. He gave up two runs in four innings in Game 1. In the 2025 postseason he allowed one run in seven innings against the Cubs and then struck out nine while allowing one run in five innings against the Dodgers in the NLCS.
What Los Angeles Purchased
Skubal is 29 and arrived from Detroit at the August 2 deadline for Zyhir Hope, River Ryan and Brady Smith. He is the two-time reigning AL Cy Young winner. His 2026: a 2.72 ERA across 26 starts, 2.61 after the trade. He missed 44 days in the summer after surgery to remove loose bodies from his left elbow, and he won a $32 million arbitration award from the Tigers for this season after they offered $19 million.
His postseason record is the part Milwaukee should hate. Six starts with Detroit in 2024 and 2025 at a 2.04 ERA, never fewer than six innings, and one run in six innings against Atlanta in this year’s NLDS Game 1.
The Rematch Nobody in Milwaukee Wants
The Dodgers swept this series in 2025 and won every single game by one run. The Brewers went 6-0 against Los Angeles in the 2025 regular season and 4-3 in 2026, including a four-game series win at Dodger Stadium in August.
Milwaukee has home-field advantage and the better regular-season record. It is still the underdog, and that is the thing that should bother a fanbase. Christian Yelich’s framing was characteristically plain: “We’re going to go in there and grind.” Pitching coach Chris Hook offered the Brewers’ real argument: “This is a different group, as you can tell. I think we’re ready to go.”
Where This Is Decided
Milwaukee’s case is that last year’s team arrived gassed and this one has Misiorowski rested. Los Angeles’s case is Dave Roberts saying of Shohei Ohtani’s recent form, “It’s good to know that we can still win games without him doing a whole bunch.” That is a team with four options where Milwaukee has one great one.
Take the Dodgers in six. Buying a Cy Young winner in August should be worth something in October, and it will be.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.