Chicago’s Pete Crow-Armstrong and New York’s Cody Bellinger took home the 2026 Platinum Gloves on Friday, with each outfielder standing alone at the top of his league on the defensive side.
Crow-Armstrong made the National League race look pretty straightforward. The Cubs center fielder piled up 25 outs above average, which led all qualified outfielders and put him nine ahead of second-place Ceddanne Rafaela. He also finished in the 100th percentile in outfield range, the 93rd percentile in arm value and the 90th percentile in arm strength.
That performance made Crow-Armstrong the first NL center fielder to win a Platinum Glove since the award debuted in 2011. He’s also the first center fielder from either league to claim the honor since Minnesota’s Byron Buxton in 2017. For the Cubs, he now joins Anthony Rizzo as the only players in team history to win the award.
Bellinger’s case in the American League was just as convincing. The Yankees left fielder posted 21 defensive runs saved, the highest total among AL left fielders, and added eight outfield assists. He was also worth six outs above average and finished above the 91st percentile in both range and arm strength.
The 31-year-old picked up his second career Gold Glove last week, and Friday’s Platinum Glove gave the Yankees another defensive standout. Bellinger became the second Yankee to win the award, following catcher Jose Trevino in 2022.
The honors didn’t stop with the individual awards. Toronto claimed the AL team Gold Glove for the third time in the last four seasons, while Chicago repeated as the NL winner.
The Blue Jays finished with 51 defensive runs saved as a team, the third-most in the American League in 2026. Even so, they didn’t have an individual Gold Glove winner this year.
Chicago’s team case was built on a defense that barely gave opponents anything. The Cubs committed just 61 errors in 2026, the fewest in the majors by a wide margin, and led MLB with 115 defensive runs saved and 73 outs above average. They also had two individual Gold Glove winners in Crow-Armstrong and third baseman Alex Bregman.
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