The National League Championship Series (NLCS) is just around the corner, and now we officially know which elite MLB pitchers will face-off in Game 1.
On Friday, the Los Angeles Dodgers announced that their newly-acquired ace Tarik Skubal will once again kick off the postseason series after shining in his Dodgers postseason debut in the NLDS.
Skubal, 29, has looked every bit as good as the Dodgers hoped when they traded a bevy of prospects to acquire the services of the two-time AL Cy Young Award winner.
Skubal’s 2026 stats paint the picture of an elite arm at the height of his powers.
He finished the 2026 regular season (which included a 38-day stint on the injured list) with a 12-7 record. Across 26 starts, he recorded a 2.72 ERA, 186 strikeouts, 27 walks and 126 hits allowed in 158.2 innings pitched.
In 10 regular-season starts with Los Angeles, Skubal posted a 5-2 record and a 2.61 ERA, striking out 70 batters while allowing 13 walks and 52 hits across 62 innings. His FIP with the Dodgers was 2.36.
Skubal was remarkable in his postseason debut with the Dodgers, throwing six innings of two-hit ball with seven strikeouts against the Atlanta Braves. He did give up a one-run jack to Sean Murphy near the end of his shift, but was otherwise as elite as one would hope given the circumstances.
While Skubal isn’t in the conversation for the Cy Young this season, the man taking the mound opposite him is the presumptive winner.
Misiorowski finished his 2026 regular season with a 16-5 record, a league-leading 1.80 ERA and 2.17 FIP, recording 252 strikeouts, 44 walks and 96 hits allowed across 174.2 innings pitched.
NLCS Primer: how both pitchers have fared against their opponents
In his career against Milwaukee, Skubal has an all-time record of 2-1, with his lone loss coming this season.
In four career starts, he’s recorded a 2.10 ERA, 31 strikeouts, four walks and 23 hits allowed across 25.2 innings.
This year’s figures aren’t as sharp. In two starts against the Brewers in 2026, Skubal went 0-1 with a 3.75 ERA, striking out 12 batters while allowing two walks and 14 hits across 12 innings.
In his lone start against the Dodgers this season, Misiorowski was dominant with a 1.50 ERA, recording six strikeouts, one walk and five hits allowed across six innings.
He’s only started against the Dodgers twice, but his numbers are elite no matter how you cut it.
Misiorowski is 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA in two regular-season starts against the Dodgers, recording 18 strikeouts, two walks and nine hits allowed across 12 innings.
Misiorowski made a bulk relief appearance in the 2025 NLCS, throwing parts of 6 innings and giving 1 earned run while notching 9 strikeouts. He was credited with the loss, which brings his career record against the Dodgers (counting regular and postseason) to 2-1, with a 1.59 ERA.
These two dominant pitchers will square off for Game 1 of the NLCS on Sunday evening at American Family Field in Milwaukee at 5 p.m. PT; the game will be broadcast on FOX and FOX Deportes.
Manager Dave Roberts has already named Yoshinobu Yamamoto as the starting pitcher in Game 2 on Monday, Oct. 12.
The series returns to Dodger Stadium for Game 3 on Wednesday, Oct. 14 at 5 p.m.
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