The young core keeping the Brewers' competitive window wide open in 2026 and beyond

After an offseason that saw Willy Adames depart for San Francisco, Devin Williams traded to the New York Yankees, and a whole host of MLB experts pick the Milwaukee Brewers to finish with a sub-.500 record, Pat Murphy's squad defied expectations in 2025, winning the most regular season games in baseball and advancing to the NLCS for the third time in franchise history.

While their quest for a World Series title once again came up short, the Brewers, unlike several other teams that were a part of the 2025 postseason, have many reasons to be optimistic that they will once again have a shot at baseball's ultimate glory in 2026. Technically, every player on the Brewers' NLCS roster could be under team control for the 2026 season as well, though many will have their mutual options denied, making them free agents. However, the point remains that the Brewers can easily return a very similar group to the one that made it to the NLCS this season.

What's even more exciting, however, is Milwaukee's young core that is just coming into its own in the big leagues. These players, most of whom are entering just their second or third years in the majors, already have playoff experience, are under team control for several years to come, and therefore give Milwaukee an encouraging future during which the success the team has enjoyed throughout this Golden Age of Brewers baseball should continue.

Milwaukee's band of talented, controllable starting pitchers sets their rotation up for success for years to come

Beginning with the starting rotation, a position group for which the future looks bright in Milwaukee. The Brewers, who will once again face the difficult decision of whether or not to trade away their ace this offseason, have a number of young starting pitchers who are under team control through the end of the decade.

Jacob Misiorowski, Quinn Priester, Chad Patrick, Tobias Myers, Robert Gasser, and Logan Henderson, six starting pitchers under the age of 27 who have already demonstrated success at the major league level, are all under team control through the 2030 season. Of the group, Myers, who just turned 27 back on August 14, is the oldest.

Add to that group two versatile lefty arms who are under team control through the 2029 season in Aaron Ashby and DL Hall, and you're talking about one of the deepest groups of controllable arms, who have at least some MLB experience, in all of baseball.

It's an excellent starting point for Matt Arnold and the Brewers' front office, but the question now becomes: will the team elect to supplement their young group of starters with some top-end veteran arms? Freddy Peralta's 2026 roster status is obviously still up in the air, but the Brewers could also turn to the trade market or, more unlikely, the free agent market to add a veteran arm or two to their otherwise inexperienced starting rotation. Regardless, with this much controllable talent at the starting pitching position, the future is bright for Milwaukee's rotation picture.

The Brewers' offense has its fair share of intriguing, young talent as well

The Brewers' encouraging future roster picture doesn't just end with their group of talented starting pitchers just bursting onto the big league scene; their offense is also chock-full of exciting young players, who will remain under team control for the foreseeable future.

Between Sal Frelick, Brice Turang, and Caleb Durbin, all of whom will be in their age 26 seasons in 2026, and Jackson Chourio, who turns 22 in March, the Brewers have a young core of position players to build around who will be under team control through at least the 2028 season. Turang, assuming the Brewers don't extend him this offseason, will hit free agency first, following the 2028 season, but Frelick is under team control through the 2029 season, Durbin is through the 2031 season, and Chourio could remain a Brewer through the 2033 season.

Paired with the exciting group of position player prospects that is roughly a year away from their big-league debuts, a group that includes Jesús Made, Cooper Pratt, Luis Peña, Blake Burke, Brock Wilken, and 2025 first-round pick Andrew Fischer, and the latter half of the 2020s look to be a time when the Brewers' offense will be a formidable one.

Obviously, there are no certainties when it comes to the careers of the players listed in this article, but given the early-career success that they've enjoyed and their pedigree as prospects, there's a lot to be encouraged about when it comes to not only the near future in Milwaukee, but also the long-term future as well. While many 2025 playoff teams are feeling their competitive windows close, the Brewers' window remains wide open, which is a testament to the incredible display of roster construction that Matt Arnold and his team have conducted in recent years.