The Milwaukee Brewers were able to get the Los Angeles Dodgers-sized monkey off their back by taking Game 1 from them to kick off the National League Championship Series on Sunday, 2-1. While fans should be happy about this win, should they also be concerned about Jacob Misiorowski?

Misiorowski got the starting nod against Los Angeles to kick off this high-leverage series, and for the second time this postseason, he was just average. Let's get into his performance.

During a regular season full of record-breaking performances and double-digit strikeout efforts in long outings, Misiorowski catapulted himself to the top of Major League Baseball's pitching leaderboards.

Heading into the playoffs, he was the X-factor for the Brewers. He ended up getting the Game 1 start of the National League Division Series against the San Diego Padres, and if Milwaukee were to move on, the assumption was that he would take the mound again to kick off the NLCS. 

Both ended up being the case. But he has not looked like the Jacob Misiorowski we saw in the regular season.

On Sunday, Misiorowski only pitched 4.1 innings and struck out five batters while giving up five hits, one earned run and three walks. It did not take him long to find himself in a precarious situation when, in the top of the second inning, he gave up an RBI single to Andy Pages before subsequently loading the bases when he walked Kyle Tucker. 

He got out of the jam when Enrique Hernandez grounded into a double play, but Misiorowski would have rarely allowed such a situation to happen as the Brewers were marching through the summer months on their quest for the playoffs.

Let's rewind to Misiorowski's first start of this postseason on Oct. 3 in Game 1 against the Padres. He was much sharper than he was on Sunday, but he still only pitched four innings while striking out six batters and allowing four hits, two earned runs and one walk. 

This is not the version of Misiorowski that fans are accustomed to, but the relievers behind him had his back.

After Misiorowski left the game, Brewers manager Pat Murphy relied on a combination of DL Hall, Abner Uribe, Aaron Ashby and Trevor Megill to keep up the line of defense. 

Those four relievers had blemishes of their own as they combined to allow three walks and two hits. But more importantly, they notched three strikeouts in a shutout effort.

The Brewers' bullpen has been very good all season long, and it did not break against the back-to-back World Series champions. This was good, given that Misiorowski failed to reach five innings of work. But the 24-year-old will need to be better.

Perhaps it is youth-induced inexperience, time off, or a mix of both and other factors that have led to Misiorowski's underwhelming performances. 

The potential and skill level are clearly present, and it's not as if he has had disastrous outings, but the chances to deliver for your team in the playoffs are so limited. If Misiorowski gets to take the mound again this postseason, he needs to be better than he has been.