3 New Year's Resolutions for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2026

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2026! In what could be the first piece of sports journalism you are reading this year, I wanted to extend my well wishes to you all. 2025 was a very emotional year for the Milwaukee Brewers and their fans. It started with the loss of Bob Uecker, our beloved radio announcer, who for many (myself included), felt like another member of the family.

We got off to a slow start. Torpedo bats doomed our Crew in the Bronx to open the season, and things didn't get drastically better until mid-May. When they did turn it around though, they certainly found the polar opposite. After a disappointing homestand against the Minnesota Twins, things seemed bleak; maybe this was the year that the smallest market in baseball would finally crumble.

Then the team started winning games. A lot of them. They set a franchise record with 14 straight wins to start the month of August, delivering free burgers to Brewers fans across Wisconsin. Pocket Pancakes and the Power of Friendship powered the Brewers to a franchise best 97-65 record, good enough to lead all of baseball. The team won its first playoff series since 2018, defeating the Chicago Cubs in an electric five-game NLDS. Unfortunately, they were swept by the dreaded Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS, leaving that elusive World Series championship still on the horizon.

So much happened in between there; American Family Field celebrated its 25th season with an alumni home run derby. Brandon Woodruff made a triumphant return to the mound. There was a weirdly quiet trade deadline. Some improbable comebacks. A second-generation Brewer. And so much more that made 2025 one of the most special seasons in franchise history.

This begs the question: how do you top that? The start of the new calendar year often brings resolutions and goals for the upcoming year. For some, it is going to the gym more, which statistically falls apart before the end of January for most people. For others, it’s personal goals: traveling more, saving more money, reading more books, and the list goes on and on. Bringing it back to baseball, though, what should be the New Year's Resolutions for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2026?

1. Establish a direction for the 2026 season

This almost feels like a cop-out of a resolution, but it is perhaps the most realistic, and would also be the one to take place first chronologically. Ever since the end of the 2025 season, Brewers fans and the media alike have pondered what direction Milwaukee will go in 2026.

Will they finally go "all in" and make the big signing and/or trade that we all are desperately clamoring for? Will they go the "typical Brewers way" trading a big piece like Freddy Peralta or Trevor Megill, and make a series of smaller moves that don't make a lot of sense now, but will by August? Or will we be stuck in this weird "will they or won't they" type situation that is best reserved for sitcom romances, where the team doesn't really establish a direction, and runs it back with the squad they have now, until the Trade Deadline in July?

Ideally, the first resolution is firmly in place by Opening Day. Maybe it is going out and trading for an impact bat, executing a Christian Yelich-esque trade that reshapes the team's offense -- Milwaukee certainly has the prospect capital to get a deal done. Maybe it is simply holding on to Peralta, signaling to their fans that they believe in the 2026 squad. Or maybe it's ripping off the "Peralta-trade band-aid" and landing a haul of players that will reshape the organization's future. As sad as the latter would be, at least it would help establish some sort of direction for this year's squad.

2. Reach a long-term extension with of one of their young stars

Maybe this is a cop out too, but I am going to keep it a bit broad initially. As much as a Peralta or Woodruff extension would make Brewers fans happy, the reality is that Milwaukee has a surplus of great younger pitchers, and the team could very well get something crucial in exchange for the last year of Peralta's incredibly cheap contract.

That said, there are certainly candidates for an extension outside of Milwaukee's veteran duo of starting pitchers that would be really impactful for this ball club to lock up long-term. For years, the Brewers struggled to find a consistent backstop, going with rental option after rental option going back to the departure of Jonathan Lucroy. Now, Milwaukee has William Contreras. "Wild Bill" still has this season, and one more season of arbitration eligibility in 2027, but wouldn't it be nice to lock him up before the trade rumors start next winter?

Likewise, Brice Turang is entering the beginning of his arbitration eligibility, and had an incredible season to build his case. While he was unable to defend his Platinum Glove in 2025, Turang made massive leaps offensively that could warrant him becoming the long term centerpiece of Milwaukee's infield. While he is still estimated to have arbitration eligibility through the end of the 2029 season, the Brewers certainly could do themselves a favor and signing him to a deal now ahead of what could be a very costly deal in just a few years.

For those asking about the pitching staff, outside of maybe Jacob Misiorowski, who reportedly hasn't made any progress in extension talks with the Brewers, the most logical extension would probably be Abner Uribe. Milwaukee's incumbent closer, Megill, has found himself at the center of trade talks for parts of the offseason, after a standout season that saw him get named to his first career All-Star Game. With Uribe ready to take over the closing duties, a Megill trade makes some sense, but not before the Brewers sign Uribe to a long-term extension, locking in his salary before a compilation of saves can increase it in the arbitration process.

All in all, making the commitment to one of the younger stars, whether it be Contreras or Turang or more reasonable options like Uribe and Sal Frelick, would be a fantastic goal for the Brewers in 2026.

3. Get over the NLCS hump

This might end up being a bit overzealous, considering that the Brewers haven't really set a firm direction for the 2026 season, as seen above and by other outlets. Still, regardless of whether the Brewers trade Peralta, or sign a big-name free agent, or extend one of their emerging stars, the fact of the matter is, this is a very talented roster of baseball players that seemingly just ran out of gas physically and emotionally by the time the NLCS started.

In 2024, the players wanted to "win one for Bob" while he was still with us. In 2025, it was "Win it for Ueck", while he watched from above. While it would still be nice to do it in memory of Uecker, there isn't the same pressure to do so in 2026. Maybe now they can just do it for themselves, and a city of baseball fans so desperately wanting to get back to the World Series.

With Pat Murphy at the helm, and a combination of veteran players like Yelich and Woodruff, mixed in with budding stars like Jackson Chourio and Misiorowski among many others, the window to win is wide open. 2025 was special. Milwaukee won its first playoff series since 2018, despite making it to the postseason every season since then, outside of 2022. Now is the time to take the next step, overcome the demons, and for the first time in franchise history, represent the National League in the Fall Classic.

Maybe it’s a pipe dream. Maybe this will age badly, maybe the Brewers will take a step back, just like those people going to the gym once February comes around. But, as the sun rises on 2026, anything is possible.