The Cincinnati Reds have lost four straight games overall and all six of the games in which they have played the Milwaukee Brewers so far in 2026, and now they get to face the single most intimidating pitcher on the planet today. Great!
Following yet another late game collapse on Wednesday evening, the Reds are now seven games under .500 and should almost immediately begin going into hibernation mode, the 2027 season (ha) a much more realistic time to be ambitious than this disastrous 2026 one. And
now, this Thursday afternoon, they get to face Jacob Misiorowki, who tops the FanGraphs fWAR leaderboard for pitchers so far this season while also topping the fastball velocity readings by nearly 2.5 mph.
Interestingly enough, it’s Cincinnati’s Chase Burns who sits second on that velocity list. Even though he’s 2.4 mph behind the Miz on average, he’s still one of the elite chuckers in the game, and that’s who Cincinnati will send to the bump in this series finale. There’s at least a bit of hope, if not much, that Burns can once again be the guy who stems the tide and gets this moribund franchise pointed back in the correct direction for at least one day.
It’s beyond bleak, folks. 85 games into the season, up against the most dominant arm in the sport, and knowing a loss would sink you a full eight games under the .500 mark? That’s a season-ending scenario just about any way you look at it, even though Nick Krall will point at the injured list and tell you it’ll be just like making a trade.
Cincinnati’s season isn’t just on the brink, it’s leaning over it.
First pitch on Thursday is a 2:10 PM ET matinee. Here’s how the Reds will line up to start:
