Pete Crow-Armstrongs breakout campaign sparked the Cubs back into the playoffs in 2025.
It also caught the attention of voters for baseballs most prestigious individual award.
The Cubs center fielder finished ninth in NL MVP voting, as selected by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani unanimously won his second straight NL MVP award, third straight overall he won the AL MVP with the Los Angeles Angels in 2023 and fourth MVP title of his career.
Crow-Armstrong was one of four Cubs who received down ballot votes Michael Busch finished 16th, Nico Hoerner was 19th and Seiya Suzuki was 20th. Its the most Cubs to receive MVP ballots since Kris Bryant (first), Anthony Rizzo (fourth), Addison Russell (19th) and Kyle Hendricks (23rd) all placed in the 2016 voting.
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For large chunks of the 2025 season, it looked like Crow-Armstrong would have a shot of snapping Ohtanis hold on the MVP crown.
Crow-Armstrong led the NL in fWAR (4.6), had 25 home runs and 27 stolen bases, threatened a 40-40 season and coupled that offensive prowess with elite defense. But he cooled off in the second half, hitting just six home runs with eight stolen bases and finishing with a 5.4 fWAR season, which ranked eighth in baseball.
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Just [a] 30-30 season, a Gold Glove, an elite performance by him on the whole, Cubs general manager Carter Hawkins told Bruce Levine on Tuesday in an interview at the GM Meetings in Las Vegas. Yes, there were some peaks and some valleys on that, but well take that year, year over year for a long time here. Just thrilled about his progress, thrilled about his ability to fight through adjustments.
He gets punched in the face a little bit on some of those valleys and Im just so happy that hes a leader on this team and somebody that we have for a long time.
Busch paced the Cubs with 34 home runs, drove in 90 runs and posted a 3.5 fWAR season. He received a fifth-place vote from Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune and a sixth-place vote from Santos A. Perez, a Miami-based freelance baseball writer.
Hoerner had arguably the best year of his seven seasons in the big-leagues. He had a career-high in fWAR (4.8), batting average (.297) and OPS (.739). He had a higher average and OPS in 2021, but injuries and starting the year in the minors led him to appear in just 44 games. He received a sixth-place vote from Mark Sheldon of MLB.com.
Suzuki was the team leader in RBI, driving in 103 runs, the only Cub to eclipse the century mark. He posted a 2.6 fWAR season serving primarily as the teams designated hitter. The 31-year-old received an eighth-place vote from Thomas Harding of MLB.com.
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