Pete Crow-Armstrong is closing in on a season that already belongs in rare company.
The Cubs outfielder has piled up 45 home runs, 30 doubles, 107 runs batted in and a career-best 38 stolen bases, and with two more steals over the next week, he can reach the 40/40 club. That would put him among baseball’s most exclusive names and add one more layer to what has been a monster year.
What makes the chase stand out even more is how much the game has changed around him. According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, only four players had ever finished a 40/40 season before 2023: Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Alfonso Soriano. Since then, Ronald Acuna Jr. and Shohei Ohtani have joined the list, and Crow-Armstrong has a chance to become the third player to do it in this stretch.
The rule changes approved in the last MLB CBA may be part of why the milestone is showing up more often. In 2022, MLB had 2,486 stolen bases. The 2026 regular season isn’t even over yet, and the league has already cleared 3,000.
Crow-Armstrong also gave himself another line for the résumé Sunday, when he doubled early and became just the sixth player in MLB history with at least 30 doubles, 35 stolen bases and 40 homers in a season. The others: Ohtani, Acuna Jr., Soriano, Rodriguez and Canseco.
So while the 40/40 chase is the headline, the bigger story is the full body of work. Rule changes or not, Crow-Armstrong has backed up his breakout 2025 and put himself in position to make it even more memorable with the first MVP award of his career.
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Cubs May Have Another Homegrown Bat Rising Faster Than Expected
Kane Kepley has wasted little time making his first pro season look like more than a warmup. The Cubs prospect from the 2025 draft class has put together a .914 OPS in his professional debut, and his 2026 line has been backed up by a 130 wRC+ that points to real production beyond the usual first-year noise. What stands out most is how he gets on base and keeps pressure on defenses once he does, which has made him one of the more intriguing names in the system.
Kepleys game also fits the kind of speed-and-pressure profile the Cubs have already seen work at Wrigley, with his style drawing comparisons to Pete Crow-Armstrong. He has stolen 66 bases in 121 games this year, and the appeal is not just the raw speed but the consistency behind it. If that combination holds, the Cubs may have another homegrown bat pushing his way toward meaningful playing time sooner than expected. [Read more 🡒]
Cubs Are Close To Clinching But One Playoff Fight Just Intensified
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Alex Bregmans injury during the game after being hit in the face by a foul ball and taken to the hospital added an abrupt layer of concern to a night that otherwise tilted Chicagos way. For the Cubs, the bigger picture is clear enough, but the chase is not finished yet, and the path to the postseason still runs through one more result that could settle everything. [Read more 🡒]
Cubs Wild Card Path Could Bring A Brutal Wrigley Problem
The Cubs are still sorting out the shape of their postseason path, but one potential Wild Card matchup already points to a problem they would rather avoid at Wrigley Field. If Atlanta ends up coming to Chicago, the focus immediately turns to Ozzie Albies, whose track record in that ballpark has been a nuisance for the home side and a reminder that some October matchups come with built-in headaches.
Albies has hit .376 at Wrigley with eight home runs and 18 RBIs, production that makes him a dangerous fit for a short playoff series in a park the Cubs are hoping to treat as an advantage. It also adds another layer to a series that would likely hinge on matchup management and how Chicago handles a few Braves bats that have already proven they can travel well into a tough environment. [Read more 🡒]