How much does Arenado have left in the tank?

Nolan Arenado was back where it all began.

As he approached his locker in the visiting clubhouse at Coors Field with the D-backs in Denver for a three-game series last month, a couple of reporters still around from Arenado’s days as a superstar third baseman for the Rockies approached him to say hello.

After catching up a bit, they left him to his pregame preparation, something that had recently changed after Arenado got off to a slow start offensively this season following a 2025 campaign in which he produced the lowest OPS of his career.

The new routine was paying dividends. On April 12, the eight-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove Award winner at third base had a .180/.192/.200 slash line on the young season. But since then, he had been red-hot at the plate, producing a .329/.402/.600 slash line with six homers over his next 26 games.

As he prepared for the series opener at his old stomping grounds, and in the second-to-last year of an eight-year, $260 million contract he signed with Colorado in 2019, the question was ripe:

How much more does Arenado have left in the tank? And, more specifically, will he play beyond the end of his current contract in 2027?

“Right now, I could see myself retiring, to be honest with you,” Arenado said before adding a caveat that was apropos in light of how well he was going at the moment. “But I feel good right now, so, if I can maintain on the performance side, but also on the 'waking up in the morning and feeling good' side, then maybe I’ll keep going.”

Arenado had a stretch from April 13 to June 2 over which he looked like the Arenado of old -- the one you could pencil in for 40 homers, 100 RBIs and a Gold Glove Award at the hot corner year-in and year-out. In that span, he posted a .972 OPS with eight homers in 41 games.

Since then, however, he’s hit another rough patch -- over his past 14 games, he’s 6-for-52 (.115) with no extra-base hits.

Still, Arenado’s six-week hot stretch generated two-thirds of his home run output from last season and his 1.5 bWAR entering Wednesday exceeded his 1.3 from all of 2025.

Will his new routine translate into a playing career past 2027? Based on how he has evolved in the way he takes care of himself, it’s certainly possible.

Back in 2023, upon reaching 10 years of MLB service time, Arenado said that early in his career, he was a lot more like Troy Tulowitzki, who was a mentor to him when he came up with the Rockies. But as he got older, he became more like then-teammate Paul Goldschmidt.

“I feel like I overdid it when I was younger, for sure,” Arenado said. “I think I overdid it, but I was having success and winning Gold Gloves. So I was like, ‘I’m not gonna stop.’”

By the time he was in his early 30s, Arenado had learned how to “slow down.” It was around that time that he also said he had his “sights set” on playing until he was around 38 years old.

Now, he’s made another change that he hopes will fuel a strong finish to his playing career, however long that might be.

“I spend a lot more time in the gym now rather than the [batting] cage,” Arenado said. “There’s days where it’s good, there’s days where it’s bad, but I am challenging myself a lot more now. When I was younger, I could rely on being more athletic and young and fresh.

“And now, I have to really see what I want to see in the game. I’ve gotta feel like I’ve already gotten at-bats before I go and get my at-bats.”

Arenado remains a strong defender at third base even if he’s not a perennial Gold Glove Award winner anymore -- his plus-4 outs above average, per Statcast, was tied for fourth among third basemen entering Wednesday. Occasionally, you’ll still see him make a jaw-dropping play that reminds you he is one of the greatest defensive third basemen to ever play the game.

At the plate, Arenado has been streaky so far in 2026. But while it seems he’d be satisfied with the career he’s put together if it all came to an end after next season, there remains a chance he could continue beyond 2027.

If he does, he’d be adding to what is already a strong case for the Hall of Fame. If he doesn’t, he’s already produced the aforementioned 10 Gold Glove Awards, more than 350 home runs and just under 60 bWAR.

The only non-active players with at least 350 homers and 60 bWAR without ties to performance-enhancing drugs who have been considered for the Hall of Fame and not gotten in are Jim Edmonds, Dwight Evans and Graig Nettles.

But that discussion is for another day. Right now, Arenado is still going, still pushing for the most important accolade in his book: a World Series ring.