PHOENIX –– The reality dawned on Max Muncy near the end of last season.
Austin Barnes and Chris Taylor were gone. Clayton Kershaw was headed toward offseason retirement. And every other player around him in the Dodgers clubhouse had arrived after he did in 2018.
The title of “longest-tenured Dodger,” Muncy realized, would suddenly belong to him in 2026.
“It was a wild thought,” the 35-year-old third baseman told The California Post on Saturday. “But it’s definitely a blessing. It’s something I’m really grateful for.”
Indeed, ever since he resurrected his MLB career with the club almost a decade ago, Muncy’s goal has been to stay in Los Angeles for the rest of his playing days.
It’s why he bypassed the arbitration system to sign a three-year, $26 million deal in 2020. Why he twice agreed to club-friendly extensions, rather than test the free agent market, in the three years after that. And why, after the team exercised a club option in his latest contract this winter to bring him back in 2026, he expressed immediate interest to the front office in inking another extension –– ultimately resulting in this week’s $10 million pact through at least 2027.
“I’m very happy with where I’m at,” Muncy said. “It’s just one of those things where, I wanted to get something done, they wanted to get something done, and we reached an agreement on something we both felt was fair.”
Muncy, of course, could have pursued a potentially more lucrative path moving forward.
Though the two-time All-Star and three-time World Series champion has been limited by injuries the last couple seasons, he remains one of the most productive third basemen in baseball, coming off a 2025 campaign in which he hit .243 (his best mark in four years) with 19 home runs and 67 RBIs in 100 games.
If he posts similar numbers in 2026, he almost certainly would have been able to earn more than the $7 million salary his new Dodgers contract will guarantee for next season.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
