The Milwaukee Brewers have punched their ticket to the National League Championship Series for the first time since 2018 after a thrilling 3-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs in Game 5 of the NLDS at American Family Field on Saturday. Milwaukee finally broke the curse, claiming their first postseason clincher since sweeping the Colorado Rockies in Game 3 of the 2018 NLDS, ending a streak of heartbreak in 2019, 2021, and last season.
The Brewers, who finished the regular season as the No. 1 team in baseball, relied on a combination of rookie brilliance and veteran firepower to advance. All three of Milwaukee’s runs left the park as a result of solo shots from William Contreras, Andrew Vaughn, and Brice Turang.
Contreras initiated the scoring in the first inning off ex-Brewer Drew Pomeranz, while Vaughn’s fourth-inning homer gave Milwaukee a 2-1 lead. Turang provided the final insurance run in the seventh with a 416-foot blast to straightaway center, his first postseason home run.
However, the star of the evening was rookie Jacob Misiorowski, who threw fire from the bullpen and made history in the process. Entering the game in the second inning, Misiorowski allowed a game-tying solo homer to Seiya Suzuki on only his second pitch, but then put the clamps on Chicago over the next four innings. He scattered three hits, struck out three, and issued no walks, giving the Brewers exactly what they needed to maintain a 2-1 lead.
He became only the second rookie in Major League history to record wins in each of his first two postseason appearances without starting a game, joining Francisco Rodriguez of the 2002 Los Angeles Angels, according to OptaSTATS. The young right-hander mixed 23 sliders and 14 curveballs with just 17 fastballs, a dramatic shift from his regular-season approach of throwing a fastball at least 46.2% of the time. He still reached triple-digit velocity multiple times, including three pitches over 101 mph, and has thrown 25 pitches at or above 101 mph across his first two postseason appearances, the fourth-most since 2008.
Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy supplemented Misiorowski with a bullpen approach that paid dividends. Aaron Ashby and fellow rookie Chad Patrick handled a sixth-inning jam, with Patrick striking out the side in the seventh. Abner Uribe closed out the final two innings with a near-perfect save, allowing just one walk and no hits, preserving the 3-1 victory.
All roads now lead to the NLCS, where the Brewers will take on the Los Angeles Dodgers Monday at American Family Field, standing just one series away from their first World Series appearance since 1982.
