It’s that time of year when we make silly promises to ourselves, in order to try and be better people in the next 12 months. Those can include going to the gym (yeah, right), being better with our finances, or learning to do something new.

But how to approach that from a baseball fan’s point of view can be very different. All you can do is hope that certain things improve.

With that in mind, here are three things Milwaukee Brewers fans should resolve to do in 2026.

1. I resolve to think unconventionally.
Think of three players who were vital to the Brewers’ success and where they started the 2025 season.

The first is Caleb Durbin. Acquired in the Devin Williams trade from the New York Yankees, Durbin was beaten out for an Opening Day roster spot by Oliver Dunn and Vinny Capra, and started at Triple-A Nashville. Durbin was thought to be more of a second baseman at the time of the trade, but with Brice Turang entrenched there, Durbin shifted to third base during spring training, where it was said he didn’t have the arm for the position. All he did was earn a mid-April promotion to make his debut, and never look back. He was a nice contributor offensively, finishing with a .256/.334/.387 slash line, but even more surprisingly, he was a rock defensively at third base.

Up next is Quinn Priester. The right-handed starter also started 2025 at Triple A, but was in the Boston Red Sox organization. Due to major starting pitching issues in the first two weeks of the season, the Brewers swung a deal for Priester, sending outfielder Yophery Rodriguez, right-handed starter John Holobetz and a Competitive Balance Round A pick to the Red Sox. At the time, Rodriguez was the No. 7 prospect for the Brewers, according to MLB Pipeline, while Holobetz, a fifth-round pick in 2024, was just getting his feet wet in pro ball, with 31 strikeouts in 24 innings. The draft choice, No. 33 overall, turned out to be pitcher Marcus Phillips. The price seemed steep at the time, but it may end up a bargain. Priester still has four more years of team control and will be in the Opening Day rotation for 2026, after going 13-3 with a 4.01 FIP and 125 ERA+.

The last piece of this puzzle is Andrew Vaughn. Like Durbin and Priester, the first baseman was picked up in a trade after spending time stuck in Triple A for another team. Vaughn had been the No. 3 overall pick in the 2018 draft by the Chicago White Sox, but fell out of favor with a team that had the most losses in MLB history in 2024 and was sent to Triple-A Charlotte after two poor months in 2025. When acquired in mid-June for disgruntled right-hander Aaron Civale, Vaughn was a reclamation project, with the Brewers hoping to ignite a spark in the first baseman. It worked. After a brief time at Nashville and called up to fill in for the injured Rhys Hoskins, Vaughn homered off Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto in his very first plate appearance. That would be the first of nine homers, to go along with a .308/.375/.493 slash line and 46 RBIs in 64 games. He enters 2026 as the starting first baseman.

There will certainly be situations in 2026 where the Brewers will pluck a player from the unknown, and he could be key to their success. Don’t expect all contributions to come from the usual places.

2. I resolve not to covet players out of the Brewers’ price range.
When the trade deadline rolls around, the Brewers will have a need of some sort, whether due to injury or lack of production. There will be a player or two on other teams whom fans will clamor for, but they won’t be realistic targets due to their financial price tag. That is life as a Brewers fan. The front office shops at Target, not at Saks Fifth Avenue—and it usually works.

Whether it’s a corner infielder or a pitcher who would bolster the team’s chances, don’t look at the names all the MLB insiders are always talking about. Look a little bit deeper at some of the options that won’t cost a big package of prospects to acquire. Consider what president of baseball operations Matt Arnold did at the 2025 trade deadline. He went out and got right-handed reliever Shelby Miller from the Arizona Diamondbacks for cash and backup outfielder Brandon Lockridge from the San Diego Padres for left-handed starter Nestor Cortes, who didn’t have a spot on the Brewers’ roster.

While Miller didn’t work out due to injury, Lockridge was surprisingly thrust into an immediate role due to an outfield shortage, and is a reason why the Brewers parted ways with Isaac Collins, who finished fourth in the NL Rookie of the Year voting.

3. I resolve to believe in the unbelievables.
There are two players seemingly on the spot for 2026: shortstop Joey Ortiz and center fielder Garrett Mitchell.

Ortiz is in the spotlight because he plays the most important defensive position, but took a major step back offensively in his second season with the Brewers after being part of the return in the Corbin Burnes trade. In his first season as a starting big-league shortstop, he was excellent defensively, committing just one error after June 29 and nine for the season. Anything in his vicinity, you had confidence he would make the play, whether routine or difficult. But the opposite was true when Ortiz was at the plate. After a .239/.329/.398 slash line in 2024, Ortiz put up a .230/.276/.317 mark in 2025. While the average was similar, Ortiz lacked the plate discipline, seeing his walks drop from 56 to 27. He popped out at an incredible rate. He came up with the bases loaded plenty of times, and went a paltry 5-for-30 (.167) with 16 RBIs, grounding into three double plays. MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy detailed a lot of the numbers that went into Ortiz’s poor offensive season. Having an offseason to reset and work on his offense can only help. Getting any semblance of offense from Ortiz in 2026 will be huge.

Mitchell is a much different case. Like Ortiz, Mitchell plays very good defense at a prime position, center field. But since making his MLB debut in late August 2022, Mitchell has played in a grand total of 141 games with 443 plate appearances, due to a number of injuries. In 2023, he played in just 19 games following a torn left labrum in his shoulder while diving back into a base. In 2024, a fractured left index finger with a week left in spring training kept him sidelined until July. Last year, he strained his left oblique on April 25. During a rehab stint in June, he reinjured his left shoulder, which required season-ending surgery. His most extensive action was in 2024, when he played the final three months and posted a .255/.342/.469 slash line with eight homers and 11 steals in 69 games. Mitchell, the Brewers’ first-round draft choice in 2020, would make the Brewers’ offense that much more dynamic if he could stay healthy. Despite not yet playing a full season’s worth of games, Mitchell has been on the MLB roster long enough that he is arbitration-eligible this offseason. He is projected to earn $1 million by MLB Trade Rumors, a number that will go up after 2026. This is a case where the Brewers would be happy to see that number spike a bit, as it would mean Mitchell was on the field and made an impact.