WASHINGTON – There’s very little, it seems, that can harsh the Milwaukee Brewers’ vibe these days.
From offseason talent-shedding to an in-season cycle of constant roster churn to robust competition in the National League, it’s almost impossible to puncture both the power of friendship and the league-leading prosperity the Brew Crew enjoys.
Heck, at this point, even an injury to a prized young pitcher that would otherwise portend storm clouds can be viewed positively.
Oh, we won’t know for sure until Aug. 15, when Jacob Misiorowski, the right-handed comet best known for earning an All-Star Game nod just five games into his career, is scheduled to come off the injured list.
The Miz, as he’s known from Menomonie to Muskego and points beyond, has a tibia contusion on his left shin, the result of a very real line drive that came off the bat of the Chicago Cubs’ Seiya Suzuki at 102.9 mph, coincidentally about as hard as Misiorowski’s nastiest fastball comes out of his hand.
Misiorowski received X-rays after that and additional imaging this weekend at Nationals Park before the Brewers scratched him roughly three hours before his Sunday, Aug. 3 scheduled start.
The Miz is fully ambulatory, has been throwing and will continue to throw, probably could’ve one hundred or so times Sunday but instead, gave way to rookie Logan Henderson against the Washington Nationals.
“They had an idea for me,” Misiorowski said Sunday morning, “and it’s basically, this is what it’s going to be. Obviously, I tried to fight it a little bit, trying to throw, but I understand and they’re looking out for me.”
It sounded like a rather tepid ‘fight,’ and it also sounds like a very good “idea.”
See, Henderson had few problems suppressing the moribund Nationals, pitching into the fifth inning in a 14-3 victory that capped a three-game sweep. Aggregate score: 38-14. While The Miz is hardly a luxury item, if you can avoid bringing Gucci luggage on a camping trip, why not?
After all, when the Brewers placed Misiorowski on the IL, seven of their next 10 games would come against the last-place Nationals, the 46-63 Atlanta Braves and the last-place Pittsburgh Pirates.
When he returns, Misiorowski’s first two starts would be against the wild-card contender Cincinnati Reds and those second-place, 64-46 Cubs, part of a five-game series at Wrigley Field that marks the last meeting between the teams this season.
And Misiorowski’s 96 ⅔ innings pitched this season almost exactly matches his professional high of 97 ⅓ innings, reached last year.
Sounds like a perfect time to pump the brakes on the kid a little bit. For competitive and, you know, other reasons.
“He’s had a lot coming at him,” says Brewers manager Pat Murphy. “He came to the big leagues, the great start, the All-Star Game, line drive off the leg, hyperextended knee.
“That’s all part of your first five, six games.”
Now the 23-year-old has seven whole big league starts under his belt, during which he’s struck out 47 batters in 33 ⅓ innings, riding a fastball whose 99.3 mph velocity is tied for eighth in the majors – including relievers.
While Misiorowski insists there is no hard ceiling on his innings count, there is a concept of how many bullets – especially of the 100-mph variety – a guy has in a season. The Brewers, now 67-44, are in an absolute dogfight in the Central and, more broadly, in an NL with a half-dozen teams playing at least .550 ball.
Much bigger fights almost certainly remain for a club with a 97.3% chance of making the playoffs, per FanGraphs.
“The kid is special,” Brewers veteran right-hander Brandon Woodruff tells USA TODAY Sports. “We’ve kind of seen here early on what he can do. He’s just scratching the surface for what he can become.
“Take care of this, have him fully ready to go for the stretch and the end of the year – probably be a good thing.”
Especially when there’s plenty of infrastructure to support it.
Got to get over the hump
Murphy is well-versed at roster juggling – the Brewers used 36 pitchers last season and have already called upon 28 this season. Henderson has shown well in his five starts – he now has a 1.78 ERA and 0.99 WHIP after getting into the fifth Sunday – yet is simply another next-man-up in the Brewers’ world.
It’s all by design, the pieces well-prepared.
“Everyone in our (spring training) room last year pitched for us,” says Murphy. “I let them know, if you have options, you’re going to be up and down. Because we need that flexibility. Anybody with options, you might be optioned.
“And probably will be.”
Saturday night, Henderson heard his name called in this version of Brewers bingo, scratched from his start with Class AAA Nashville at Scranton-Wilkes Barre, told to scramble to Washington to fill in for Misiorowski.
After an evening drive south with his family at the wheel, he shut down the Nationals and now, the Brewers are 5-0 in his starts.
A lot of Logan Hendersons add up to 67-44.
‘I did not expect it,’ says Henderson of his emergency assignment, ‘but I was ready for it. We’re all in Nashville watching the boys win up here and it’s been really fun and we all want to contribute.
‘I think that’s the toughest battle, to be quite honest, trying to feel a part of the team up here when you’re down there. It fuels you more. It makes you want to get back up here and be ready for any opportunity.’
It’s all part of the Brewers’ grand maneuvering, a place where a given winter might see them shed an All-Star piece like closer Devin Williams, or where the biggest trade deadline addition (upright division) might be reserve catcher Danny Jansen.
The deadline is past them and the maneuvering can begin, but Murphy realizes the Milwaukee mojo is a delicate brew.
“It works both ways. You get so myopic about all that and forget that these are still people,” says Murphy. “It’s got to be fun. If all of a sudden, these guys start taking on expectations that are different from the normal expectations of playing in the big leagues and playing as a team, if they start letting their energy and focus go toward something different, then it can screw everything up.
“You’ve got to keep their focus and their energies just on how we do it. And let it all play out.”
Since 2018, that more likely means a taste of the postseason but not much more. The Brewers lost Game 7 of the 2018 NLCS to the Dodgers, then bowed out as a wild card the next two seasons. They won the Central in 2021, ’23 and ’24 but lost in the first round each time, the past two seasons in the wild card round as they failed to secure a first-round bye.
If nothing else, they’re a worthy steppingstone. The Brewers lost to the eventual World Series champion in 2019, 2020 and ’21, while Arizona won the NL pennant after dispatching them in ’23 and the New York Mets made a startling NLCS run last season.
Not that there’s any satisfaction in that.
“We’ve had a good run here the last eight years. In ’18, one game away from getting to the World Series,” mused Woodruff, who has pitched excellently – a 2.01 ERA in four starts – in his return from shoulder surgery that cost him all of 2024. “Ever since then, it’s been a battle. We’ve made the playoffs, but it’s like we can’t get over that hump.
“You keep knocking on the door, knocking on the door and hopefully one of these years, you get over the hump. Hopefully this year is the year.”
That’s a question the next three months will answer. They’ll bid the Cubs farewell in three weeks, left to battle apart the remainder of the year.
Beyond that, many of the Brewers’ old tormentors will lurk in the postseason bracket. Carrying a bye beyond the wild card round would give Milwaukee an advantage it’s never enjoyed.
“There’s some really good teams out there, with a lot more experience. Teams with a lot more physical talent,” says Murphy. “But we’re pretty good as a team.
“We have to stick with that, and really understand that. If we think we’re not going to go through bumps, we’re crazy. There’s going to be bumps.”
Yet in the case of Misiorowski, the Brewers hope to turn a bump into a boon.
The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.