Chicago Cubs Chasing Hardware: Pete Crow-Armstrong Leads Charge in Awards Race

With one month left to go in the regular season, there's just one thing on everyone's minds: awards!

I jest, of course, because it appears that the Cubs will be playing baseball in October for the first time since 2020. The NL Central remains just out of arm's reach, but the North Siders still have playoff seeding and home-field advantage in the Wild Card Round to play for.

Still, awards season always makes for fun discourse, even if the offense's ice-cold August and the team's overall .500 record for the month have splashed a dose of cold water on some of those dreams. The Cubs figure to be well represented in the voting process, but do they stand to come out on top in any category?

We'll cover four of the five major awards: MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, and Gold (Platinum?) Gloves. Some sections will obviously be longer than others (spoiler alert: the Cubs have a ton of Gold Glove contenders), and we're going to ignore Manager of the Year because Craig Counsell is obviously the team's only contender, and he has little to no chance of winning it.

Without further ado, let's take a look at which pieces of hardware the Cubs might take home after the season.

National League MVP Award
There's not a ton to say here, mostly because Shohei Ohtani exists. And, just in case he were catapulted off the face of the earth by an errant Los Angels trebuchet (you know how common those are), old friend Kyle Schwarber also exists, in all of his four-home-runs-in-one-game glory.

If you're wondering which Cubs are going to get some down-ballot love, there's a couple of options. Pete Crow-Armstrong's otherworldly defense (more on that later) and speed/power combo (28 homers, 31 steals) will surely get him enough votes to finish in proximity of the top ten, and Kyle Tucker (team-leading 136 wRC+) currently shares the same odds as him to win the award outright (+20,000). Don't go betting the mortgage on either guy to have the greatest September ever and coming out on top in this race -- Ohtani's 45 home runs and 44 strikeouts (in 32 1/3 innings) on the mound are all but insurmountable -- but they've more or less lived up to the hype as the Cubs' star duo.

National League Cy Young Award
This one's a bit more frustrating than the MVP race, because the Cubs have a legitimate contender for Cy Young this year: Matthew Boyd.

Among all NL pitchers, Boyd ranks fifth in ERA (2.82), tenth in FIP (3.41), eighth in fWAR (3.3), seventh in innings (153 1/3), 14th in strikeout rate (22.6%), seventh in walk rate (5.9%), and 11th in Win Probability Added (1.25). Simply put, this has been a magical season from the southpaw, and he immediately goes down as one of the best free agent signings in franchise history, regardless of how he performs in 2026. He's been worth the total value of his contract ($29 million) this year alone.

Unfortunately, ranking in or near the top ten in every notable category isn't the same as ranking in the top three. Paul Skenes bests Boyd in each of those stats, and his lead for the ERA crown (his 2.05 ERA is 0.53 clear of second-place Freddy Peralta) is the same as the difference between fifth-place Boyd and 11th-place Clay Holmes. He won't win the pitching triple crown because the Pirates' laughable offense has given him practically no run support this year, but Zach Wheeler's season-ending injury all but cleared his lane to cruise to a first-place finish. Still, Boyd should finish inside the top five in voting, with a chance to make a shocking run to the podium if he can cap off his brilliant season with an even more brilliant September.

National League Rookie of the Year Award
This award has been up-and-down all season, but the Cubs appear to have two legitimate contenders for Rookie of the Year, depending on how they finish the season in September.

In one corner stands Matt Shaw, the much-maligned third baseman who has become arguably the team's most important player in the second half. Since the All-Star break, Shaw is slashing .284/.325/.633, good for a 160 wRC+ that leads the Cubs in that time. His defense has also been stellar in recent months, and the former top prospects is clearly putting it all together after his early-season funk. Unfortunately, this is a full-season award, and that funk has his overall batting line sitting at .228/.292/.402 (92 wRC+). That won't be good enough to best Isaac Collins of the Brewers (127 wRC+) or Drake Baldwin of the Braves (122 wRC+), but Shaw's late-season surge has pushed his WAR into solid territory (1.2 fWAR). With a strong September, he should finish inside the top five in the voting process.

Shaw shouldn't fret too much about that placement, though, because one of his Cubs teammates is emerging as the favorite to win this thing. Cade Horton, after a so-so start to his big league career, has been on fire since July, with a 0.86 ERA, 2.93 FIP, and 23.8% strikeout rate in 42.0 innings since the All-Star break. Yes, he's allowed just four runs in the second half, as this is becoming one of the most memorable stretches of Cubs pitching since Jake Arrieta's historic finish a decade ago. His overall season ERA now sits at just 2.92, and he's the resounding favorite to win the Rookie of the Year award in the Senior Circuit. It's probably too late for him to make a move in the Cy Young race, but if he carries this over to 2026, Skenes is going to have some tough competition.

Gold Gloves
The Cubs have so many contenders for this award. Let's just break them down player by player.

Nico Hoerner
Hoerner has been the best defensive second baseman in baseball by a mile this year -- his 12 Outs Above Average (OAA) are three better than second place Andrés Giménez, and he practically laps the field in the NL -- and his 1,100 innings at the position are more than enough to qualify him for every leaderboard, regardless of how frequently he plays the position in the final month of the season. His 18 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) are almost twice as many as Brice Turang's 10 (second-place in the NL), and the same his true of Hoerner's nine Fielding Run Value (FRV). No matter who you ask, he's been the best keystone defender this year, and he'd be a real contender for the Platinum Glove were it not for one of his teammates.

Dansby Swanson
I've included Swanson here because of his pedigree (two Gold Gloves), but truth be told, he has no chance of winning the award at shortstop this year. Masyn Winn of the Cardinals has been on another planet (his 21 OAA and 15 FRV are leagues better than everyone else), and DRS actually prefers Mookie Betts (15) and Nick Allen (10). Swanson ranks third in that latter category in the NL (seven DRS), but he has just two OAA and FRV apiece. He could sneak in as a finalist, but Winn and Allen should finish as the top two.

Matt Shaw
Hey, I know this guy. I mentioned in the ROY section that Shaw's been great defensively, and his eight DRS attests to that (second in the NL). Unfortunately, Statcast's OAA (-2) and FanGraphs' FRV (-1) put a lot of stock into his defensive struggles at the beginning of the campaign, and his six errors rank tied for fifth at the hot corner in the Senior Circuit. Regardless of what voters make of that info, though, Ke'Bryan Hayes is going to win this award in perpetuity. His 18 OAA and 14 FRV are triple any other NL third baseman, and he's got Shaw beat in DRS by a significant margin. After a decade of Nolan Arenado cleaning up this award, it appears another hot corner dynasty has begun.

Ian Happ
Like Swanson, Happ is here more for pedigree than actual viability. He's the three-time reigning Gold Glover in left field in the NL, though only DRS grades him positively (six DRS). On brand recognition alone, he could get enough love in the voting to finish as a finalist, but Isaac Collins and Brandon Nimmo have been better than Happ according to most metrics.

Kyle Tucker
Another legacy addition to this list, Tucker won his Gold Glove with the Astros back in 2022. He's been quite solid in right field all year long (one DRS, one FRV, -2 OAA), but the triumvirate of Corbin Carroll, Sal Frelick, and eventual winner Fernando Tatis Jr. will likely keep Tucker from finishing on the podium.

Pete Crow-Armstrong
Might as well save the best for last. The man known as "PCA" leads all MLB outfielders (by a comfortable margin) with 19 OAA, and his 20 DRS and 20 FRV both top the National League, regardless of position. There's really now way to explain how outrageously good he's been in center field in 2025. He's a shoo-in for the Gold Glove award in center field (despite some tough competition from Victor Scott II), and he's probably the favorite for the Platinum Glove award in the NL at this point in time. 

What do you think about the Cubs' award chances this season? Let us know in the comments!