Pete Crow-Armstrong becomes seventh 40-40 player in MLB history, September 24

Pete Crow-Armstrong stole his 40th base on September 24 in the first inning against the Miami Marlins, joining an exclusive group in baseball history. According to MLB.com, Crow-Armstrong is the seventh player in MLB history to achieve 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in a single season. He reached 40 home runs weeks earlier, according to CBS Sports. According to MLB.com, Crow-Armstrong is the first player in Cubs history to achieve the 40-40 milestone. Before him, the Cubs had only two 30-30 seasons by Sammy Sosa, according to CBS Sports. Crow-Armstrong has now posted a 30-30 season in consecutive years and is the only Cubs player to add 30 doubles to the 30-30 mix in multiple seasons, per MLB.com. Crow-Armstrong is 24 years old and is now at 45 home runs with 40 steals, according to CBS Sports. His full 2026 line stands at .280/.374/.577 with a 157 OPS+, including 31 doubles, eight triples, 45 home runs, 107 RBI, 119 runs and 40 steals, per CBS Sports. According to CBS Sports, Crow-Armstrong leads the majors in runs, home runs, total bases and WAR at 9.8. Per CBS Sports, he leads the National League in slugging, OPS and OPS+. The six other members of the 40-40 club are, according to MLB.com: Jose Canseco (42 homers and 40 steals in 1988), Barry Bonds (42 homers and 40 steals in 1996), Alex Rodriguez (42 homers and 46 steals in 1998), Alfonso Soriano (46 homers and 41 steals in 2006), Ronald Acuña Jr. (41 homers and 73 steals in 2023) and Shohei Ohtani (54 homers and 59 steals in 2024). According to CBS Sports, Canseco, Acuña and Ohtani won league MVP in their 40-40 seasons. Crow-Armstrong's 45 home runs place him alongside Sammy Sosa (five times), Ernie Banks (twice), Hack Wilson, Andre Dawson, Dave Kingman and Derrek Lee as the only Cubs to reach that mark in a season, according to MLB.com. He is the first Cubs player to 45 homers since Derrek Lee had 46 in 2005, per MLB.com. According to MLB.com, Crow-Armstrong topped Billy Williams's record of 42 homers in 1970 for the most homers in a season in Cubs history by a left-handed batter. When measured by Baseball Reference WAR, Crow-Armstrong's 9.8 ranks fourth all-time among Cubs position players, behind Rogers Hornsby 1929 (10.6), Sammy Sosa 2001 (10.3) and Ernie Banks 1959 (10.2), according to CBS Sports. By FanGraphs WAR, his 10.6 ranks second in Cubs history, behind only Rogers Hornsby 1929 at 11.0, per CBS Sports. According to CBS Sports, Crow-Armstrong is first in fielding run value and outs above average. Cubs manager Craig Counsell told MLB.com: "Everything Pete has done this year has been really incredible... I've never seen it before, actually." Cubs broadcaster Jon Sciambi called it on air, per MLB.com: "Forty-forty for the soon-to-be MVP, Pete Crow-Armstrong!" Crow-Armstrong said to MLB.com: "I've recently felt how badly people wanted it for me... And I wanted it. And I wanted to put myself in that same conversation as such impressive and great players, but every day I showed up like, if I took the right base, it was going to help the team." He added, per MLB.com: "Yeah, I was pretty emotional running out to center field, honestly... All the flags and stuff today, it was pretty overwhelming, I'm not going to lie." The Cubs clinched the playoffs the same day with a 2-1 victory over the Marlins.