Zack Wheeler Plans to Retire When Phillies Contract Expires After 2027 MLB Season

Zack Wheeler remains one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball, but he doesn't plan to remain in the game once his current contract with the Philadelphia Phillies expires after the 2027 season.

According to Matt Gelb of The Athletic, "Wheeler is unequivocal: When this $126 million contract expires at the end of the 2027 season, he is done with baseball. He has four kids at home who need a dad. He stares whenever anyone questions that."

"That's the plan," Wheeler confirmed, adding that it "doesn't matter" if he continues to pitch at a dominant level.

Wheeler is 35 now and will be 37 by the time his contract expires, so it's not as though he'll be hanging it up early in his career.

"It'll be easy to walk away," he told Gelb.

Regardless, he's shown zero signs that he'll slow down anytime soon. This season he's 6-2 with a 2.85 ERA, 0.90 WHIP and 101 strikeouts through 82 innings, looking once again like a Cy Young candidate.

Since joining the Phillies in 2020, Wheeler has finished top-six in the Cy Young voting three times and emerged as one of the most consistent aces in the sport. He's been just as dominant for the Phillies in three postseasons, going 4-3 in 11 starts (12 appearances) with a 2.18 ERA, 0.72 WHIP and 77 strikeouts in 70.1 innings.

For just about any team, then, losing Wheeler would be an enormous blow, and the Phillies need to consider that they now have a fixed window with one of the top aces in baseball.

Philly is pretty loaded at pitcher, however. Aaron Nola is under contract through 2030, Christopher Sanchez is under club control through 2030, Jesús Luzardo is under club control through the 2026 season (but has likely pitched his way to a nice extension) and the team also has promising prospects in Mick Abel (who has pitched well when called up to the Majors this season) and Andrew Painter (the No. 5 prospect in the sport, per MLB.com).

So the Phillies have contingencies in place, at least as currently constructed. But wasting Wheeler's dominance would be a borderline crime, so being in win-now mode would make sense for a franchise that has made the playoffs three straight years but hasn't quite gotten over the hump.