Pete Crow-Armstrong caps historic season for Chicago Cubs with unanimous NL MVP: ‘I really know there’s more’

Pete Crow-Armstrong doesn’t like to set numbers-based goals for a season.

The Chicago Cubs center fielder never approached the game that way. Even with that mentality, however, Crow-Armstrong knew something had to change coming off an underwhelming second half of the 2025 season.

An early-season adjustment to his stance, moving his hands a little farther from his body — coupled with a leg kick that helped him better control his movements and repeat his mechanics — was the starting point for what became an otherworldly all-around year for the 24-year-old.

“It really just comes down to making a conscious choice,” Crow-Armstrong told the Tribune this season. “Dealing with failure will always be the hardest part of this game. So I came into this year being like, if I’m going to work on one thing that I can actively take into every day with me, it should be a part of the process. But you’re never really as bad as you think until you look up at the end of the year and it is what it is.”

Crow-Armstrong’s setup changes, combined with a sudden commitment in May to make better swing decisions and stop chasing out of the zone, fueled the best offensive performance in the National League and culminated in his being named Most Valuable Player on Thursday night by a unanimous vote of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Crow-Armstrong received all 30 first-place votes to become the first Cubs player to be elected unanimously. Four-time MVP Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers finished second, and Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Brice Turang was third. Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman finished ninth.

Crow-Armstrong’s parents, Matt Armstrong and Ashley Crow, along with his girlfriend and lifelong friends who traveled to be present for the announcement, all came together to share in his MVP moment.

“It tends to be hard for me to process things right after they happen, especially something like this where I’m really just feeling very lucky that people would even make a trip for something like this,” Crow-Armstrong said afterward. “I feel like I did a decent job of getting everybody here that I felt like played a real part in my success as a baseball player and my success up to this point. I feel like being able to selfishly get everybody in the same place was a weird way I could say thank you and show people that all the work I put in has been worth it.”

He fittingly learned he received the honor when former Pittsburgh Pirate outfielder Andrew McCutchen revealed he won the award on MLB Network. Crow-Armstrong is the seventh NL center fielder to win it and the first since McCutchen in 2013.

Crow-Armstrong said that moment was “one of the cooler things for me” because McCutchen was his favorite player growing up. He knows winning this MVP award could have the same impact on kids who watched him this season.

“I was the little kid looking up to Andrew McCutchen and I wanted to be MVP like him because I looked up to his 2013 season so much,” Crow-Armstrong said. “I loved his hair. I loved the fact that he plays center field. I loved everything about him.”

It’s only the 12th time since the BBWAA started presenting the award in 1931 that the NL winner was chosen unanimously. Crow-Armstrong joins Carl Hubbell (1936), Orlando Cepeda (1967), Mike Schmidt (1980), Jeff Bagwell (1994), Ken Caminiti (1996), Barry Bonds (2002), Albert Pujols (2009), Bryce Harper (2015), Ronald Acuña Jr. (2023) and Ohtani (2024 and ’25).

Ohtani has finished first or second in the last six years, breaking the record he had shared with Bonds and Mike Trout. Ohtani won the AL MVP award in 2021 and 2023 while being the runner-up in 2022 and received the NL MVP trophy in 2024 and ’25. Crow-Armstrong joked he will need to get into a pitch lab in the offseason to start closing games from center field, proclaiming that if Ohtani is able to keep pitching and hitting for years to come, the MVP award is always going to be his.

“I mean, he had a lock on this award when he wasn’t a two-way guy, so that is just really a testament to how how incredibly talented he is,” Crow-Armstrong said of Ohtani. “But no, there was never a moment where I felt like this was his award to be taken, if that is grammatically correct. I think as competitors we’re so focused on going out every day and finding any way to win that that turned into a lot of individual success.

“I think tonight’s kind of the right time for me to appreciate who I won the award over because it’s not just Shohei. I mean, that guy has been outright the best baseball player in the world and for the last 10 years it seems like. And there’s no reason he shouldn’t have won an MVP in the last four or five, in my opinion.”

Crow-Armstrong is the 11th Cub — ninth in the BBWAA era — to win an MVP, dating to 1911. Ernie Banks won it twice. At 24 years, 232 days old, Crow-Armstrong also became the youngest player in franchise history to win the award. Kris Bryant, the 2016 winner, was 24 years, 318 days old.

Crow-Armstrong slugged 45 home runs, 31 doubles and eight triples while hitting .280 with a .372 on-base percentage, .570 slugging percentage, .943 OPS and 157 wRC+. His commitment to plate discipline resulted in nearly a 7% increase in his walk rate, and he totaled more walks this year (83 in 162 games) than during his previous two-plus seasons combined (53 in 293 games).

His 10.6 fWAR led the majors — 3.6 more than the next-closest player, Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. — and trails only Roger Hornsby’s 11.0 in 1929 for the best single-season fWAR in franchise history. Crow-Armstrong continued to shine on defense, too, winning his second consecutive Gold Glove Award and first Platinum Glove.

“I mean, he’s been the best player in baseball this year — it’s not close,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said Sept. 20. “He performs in every facet of the game at the highest level. It’s an overall season, when you include the defense and the baserunning, that’s rarely been seen.”

Crow-Armstrong was most proud of his perseverance this year and the ability to turn around his season after posting a .224 average and .676 OPS through the Cubs’ first 58 games. He also noted how being a part of so many comebacks and walk-off wins showed how collectively they were able to finish the job during the regular season. And as he reflected on the last few years, Crow-Armstrong credited the patience from some of his previous veteran teammates, Justin Turner and Carlos Santana, as well as former coaches Willie Harris and Mike Napoli along with players such as Bregman and Michael Conforto this past season for changing his life so many ways as a baseball player.

“Giving me time to figure it out throughout the year and just with that idea I think showing up to the park every day, knowing that people kind of knew that I would turn it around when I may not have was more confidence than I could have ever needed,” Crow-Armstrong said. “So … like the Craig Counsells of the world feeling comfortable enough to put me in a leadoff spot when I may not have earned it based on results and success.

During the Cubs’ final home game of the year, he became the team’s first player to record a 40-homer, 40-steal season, something only six others — Ohtani (2024), Acuña (2023), Alfonso Soriano (2006), Alex Rodriguez (1998), Bonds (1996) and José Canseco (1988) — have accomplished in MLB history. Only Rodriguez and Canseco did it at a younger age.

“The kid’s more talented than almost anybody on the planet,” assistant hitting coach John Mallee said in September. “He has what I call the ‘it’ factor. … He likes to be coached. He likes to be disciplined. He wants to be held accountable. And accepting failure is not an option. We have to somehow accept it somewhat but never be content.”

The Cubs believed enough in Crow-Armstrong’s short- and long-term impact, despite a tough second half in 2025, to sign him to a six-year, $115 million contract extension in March that kicks in next season.

“It would be foolish for anyone ever to make that (MVP) bet on any player,” general manager Carter Hawkins said Tuesday, “but I think Pete believed that, and I don’t know that every player actually believes that to the level that Pete believed that.

“But talking from just a pure talent perspective, like, if this all could come together and do it consistently, yeah, you can start to dream on the types of seasons that he had. And it’s such a credit to him that he was able to do that so early in his career.”

The journey to this moment wasn’t always smooth.

The No. 19 pick in the 2020 draft, Crow-Armstrong saw his first professional season end just six games into the 2021 season because of a torn labrum in his right shoulder that required surgery, ultimately ending his brief time with the New York Mets. The Cubs acquired him that July for shortstop Javier Báez — Crow-Armstrong’s favorite player growing up — and right-hander Trevor Williams.

Crow-Armstrong’s raw tools helped him ascend quickly through the minors, earning his first big-league call-up in September 2023. With the Cubs still fighting for a playoff spot, he was used largely as a pinch runner and failed to record a hit in 19 plate appearances.

“He was needed, but he wasn’t ready,” said Mallee, who was the Triple-A Iowa hitting coach in 2023. “Talent-wise, of course, but performance-wise there were so many different things he still needed to work on.”

The Cubs opted to start out Crow-Armstrong at Iowa to open the 2024 season before calling him up in late April to give him regular playing time in center field. That opportunity didn’t yield much production, either, as a .236/.295/.364 slash line in 23 games resulted in a return to Iowa in mid-May. When an injury 10 days later created a need, the Cubs brought him back to the majors.

He wouldn’t return to Triple A.

Everyday reps in center field helped the speedy, defense-first Crow-Armstrong get needed exposure to big-league pitching at just 22. His continued offensive refinement provided a glimpse of his incredible potential with a sensational first half of 2025 that earned him an All-Star Game start.

However, the underlying metrics to that MVP-level first-half performance, particularly his out-of-zone chase rate and lack of plate discipline, fully emerged during a difficult second half. Crow-Armstrong’s .209 average, .254 on-base percentage and .610 OPS with just six home runs in his last 65 games fueled him in the offseason.

“He’s gotten so good at knowing what he’s trying to do, how he’s trying to execute and been really stubborn at sticking to that,” veteran shortstop Dansby Swanson said during the postseason. “That’s one of the big reasons why you’ve seen his game go into a new level is the ability to mentally process things much quicker than it was earlier in his career. Obviously that will only continue to get better.

“To be able to do that at such a young age with the different pressures you may have on you and attention on you, he’s handled it so gracefully. It’s been really, really cool to watch.”

As he shouldered the increasing attention over the last two years, particularly this season, Crow-Armstrong managed to handle everything thrown at him. That scrutiny will only increase on the MVP moving forward, as will the expectations, particularly from within.

“In the most humble way I can say it, I still don’t feel satisfied with the product that I put on the field this year,” Crow-Armstrong said. “And it sounds so melancholy, but I’m so happy being able to say this because I really know there’s more. I’ve decided there’s more. That’s how I got here.

“I still think that there’s much more in store for me when it comes to a success conversation. Just because this is definitely a huge accomplishment of mine, this award. But success in my eyes is being called a winner, and I’m not necessarily there yet. So I will continue to fight myself and be kind to myself and give myself grace. And hopefully I can be talking to you as a World Series champion and MVP.”

Houston Astros slugger Yordan Álvarez won the AL MVP award, also unanimously, after making a run at the Triple Crown. Álvarez, 29, hit a career-best .316 with 42 home runs and 106 RBIs for the AL West champions. He led the majors in batting average and finished in a tie for second in the AL in home runs and second in RBIs, trailing Pete Alonso’s 43 home runs and 113 RBIs for the Baltimore Orioles.

Álvarez was the Astros’ primary designated hitter, but his offensive brilliance was enough to overcome his limited contributions on defense. The four-time All-Star also led the majors in walks (109), on-base percentage (.432) and slugging percentage (.601).

He became the first AL MVP from Houston since Jose Altuve in 2017. He received all 30 first-place votes in balloting from the BBWAA. Third baseman Junior Caminero, who batted .276 with 42 home runs and 101 RBIs for the Tampa Bay Rays, was second, receiving 27 of 30 second-place votes. Witt finished third.

This is only the third time (2023 and 2024) that the MVP winners in both leagues were unanimous in the same year.

Associated Press contributed.

mmontemurro@chicagotribune.com

Chicago Cubs MVP winners