Pete Crow-Armstrong’s 2026 season will be remembered for one milestone: on Sept. 24 against the Marlins he stole his 40th base, joining his 40-plus home runs and making him only the seventh player in major-league history, and the first Cub, to reach the 40-40 club. The milestone is only part of the story. Here is what the full season looked like, and what the numbers mean.

The headline numbers

Crow-Armstrong played all 162 games and finished with 45 home runs, tied with Kyle Schwarber for the major-league lead, plus 41 stolen bases, 107 RBI and 119 runs scored, the most in the majors. His 45 homers set the Cubs record for a left-handed hitter and were the most by any Cub since Derrek Lee hit 46 in 2005. Mixing power and speed at that level is rare: he was the first center fielder ever with 40 homers, 30 doubles and 30 steals in one season.

The RBI total is especially telling. Leadoff hitters usually bat with the bases empty, so they rarely pile up RBI. Crow-Armstrong still finished fourth in the majors.

What the advanced numbers say

OPS (.942, best in the National League). On-base plus slugging adds together how often a hitter reaches base and how much damage his hits do. It is a quick, reliable measure of overall offense, and anything above .900 is elite.

OPS+ (155). This version adjusts OPS for ballparks and the league environment, then sets average at 100. A 155 means he was about 55 percent better than a league-average hitter.

WAR (9.8 by Baseball-Reference, 10.6 by FanGraphs, first in the majors on both). Wins Above Replacement estimates how many wins a player adds compared with a readily available fill-in, combining hitting, baserunning and defense. A 5-WAR season is All-Star level; reaching 10 is a historic year. His defense in center field is a big reason his WAR outran even his batting numbers.

The answer to last year’s question

The most encouraging part may be how the season ended. In 2025, Crow-Armstrong posted an .847 OPS before the All-Star break and faded to .634 after it. In 2026 he did the opposite of fading: he became the first player on record with at least five home runs, five steals and a triple in four straight months. Durability and consistency were the open questions a year ago, and he answered both.

What’s next

Postseason awards are announced later this fall, and Crow-Armstrong’s season puts him firmly in the conversation for National League MVP. He is 24 and signed through the six-year, $115 million extension he agreed to before this season, so Cubs fans will get to watch what comes next for a long time.