Chicago celebrated at Wrigley Field after the Cubs clinched a playoff berth, with center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong bearing an exuberant champagne shower shortly after stealing his 40th base. The 24-year-old became the seventh player in MLB history to record 40 home runs and 40 steals in a single season.
Crow-Armstrong’s 2026 campaign has vaulted him into the conversation for the National League MVP and made him a runaway favorite, as he leads the NL in home runs, runs scored, games played and fWAR and joined the 40/40 club on Thursday afternoon. Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer called it “the best position-player season I’ve ever seen” and predicted, “He’s going to win the MVP. He’s going to win the Hank Aaron Award. He’s going to win the Platinum Glove.”
The on-field production has been paired with a team-first approach. “That’s how I’ve framed everything this year,” Crow-Armstrong said, explaining that taking the right bases and helping the team guided his decisions all season. “If I [stole] the right base, it was going to help the team,” he added.
Crow-Armstrong set clear goals at the start of spring training to get on base more and cut down his chase rate, saying in February he was not proud of a .280 on-base percentage and a 55% swing rate from prior play. He improved his on-base percentage by nearly 100 points and lowered his chase rate by eight percentage points, while also addressing a previous weakness against left-handed pitching: after a .188/.217/.376 line in 188 at-bats versus lefties in 2025, he produced a .282/.378/.513 mark this season.
Teammates and opponents noted the impact. “With him and without him, what would we be?” Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson said. Cincinnati catcher Tyler Stephenson said Crow-Armstrong now punishes mistakes from lefties, and Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner said the lefthanded improvements forced opposing managers to rethink matchups. Manager Craig Counsell used Crow-Armstrong as the team’s full-time leadoff hitter, a role that amplified his value as Chicago pushed into the postseason.
