Is Pete Crow-Armstrong on pace for one of the best offensive seasons in Cubs history?

CHICAGO (WGN) — Is Pete Crow-Armstrong on pace to carve a space among the Chicago Cubs’ all-time best bats?

I was reading MLB.com’s weekly power rankings update when the question occurred to me.

Chicago checked in at No. 7, down two spots from a week prior. In his summation of the North Siders, Will Leitch

wrote, “First place in the Majors right now in WAR? Aaron Judge. No surprise there. Second place? Fernando Tatis Jr. Yep, makes sense. But third place? It’s … the Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong, who is on pace for, get this, a 43-homer, 130-RBI, 122-run, 47-stolen base season. Yowza.”

Through 48 games, Crow-Armstrong has notched 12 home runs, 12 doubles, three triples, 38 RBI and 14 stolen bases on a .282/.317/.569 slash line.

It’s not every day a Cubs player stands alongside offensive juggernauts like Judge and Tatis, but that’s exactly where PCA has found himself a little more than a month-and-a-half into the 2025 MLB season.

If he maintains those numbers (a big ‘if,’ I know), it begs the question, where will Crow-Armstrong’s 2025 season finish among the franchise’s all-time greats?

Rogers Hornsby, Hack Wilson and Billy Herman mashed for the Cubs before World War II. Ernie Banks belted bombs in the 1950s. Ryne Sandberg slugged his way through the 1980s. Sammy Sosa slammed pitchers in the 1990s and early 2000s. Derek Lee lined lasers through the mid-2000s. Kris Bryant cracked fastballs in the early 2010s.

Let’s take a look at each of those players’ best individual seasons to see where PCA has a possibility to stack up.

Kris Bryant

Starting in reverse chronological order, our first hitter on the North Siders’ totem pole for all-time great single-season hitting performances is the bat at the heart of the Cubs’ historic 2016 World Series championship squad.

Kris Bryant, like many hitters in Chicago’s lineup that year, peaked at the right time.

He ended up taking home National League MVP honors after slashing .292/.385/.554 with 39 home runs, 35 doubles, 102 RBI and a league-leading 121 runs scored.

That season was also, of course, capped off by Bryant delivering the World Series-clinching assist to Anthony Rizzo in the 10th inning of Game 7.

Derrek Lee

2005 Derrek Lee had the second-best single-season performance at the plate since the turn of the millennium by a Cubs hitter, barring PCA keeps his current pace up.

Lee finished third in NL MVP voting in 2005 despite leading the league in hits (199), doubles (50), batting average (.335), slugging percentage (.662), OPS (1.080), OPS+ (174), rOBA (.459) and total bases (393). He also finished second in the NL in home runs (46, behind Andruw Jones’ 51) and runs scored (120, behind Albert Pujols’ 129).

The next guy on this list takes home the honors for best hitting performance of the last 25 years.

Sammy Sosa

One could argue Sammy Sosa’s 2001 season with the Cubs may be the best of his career, even more so than 1998, the year of his and Mark McGuire’s record-setting home run chase.

Slammin’ Sammy finished 2001 hitting .328/.437/.737 with 64 home runs and 160 RBI. While he hit two fewer home runs than he did in 1998, he hit 14 more doubles and five more triples than three seasons prior and finished with career highs in RBI, OPS (1.174), OPS+ (203), runs scored (146), walks (116), extra base hits (103), total bases (425) and offensive WAR (9.8).

His marks in 2001 for offensive WAR, slugging percentage, total bases, extra base hits and at-bats per home run (9.0) remain single-season franchise records.

Ryne Sandberg

Ryne Sandberg had two seasons at the plate that stood out from the rest during a stretch that saw him make ten straight NL All-Star Teams—1984 and 1990.

In 1984, Sandberg took home NL MVP honors, a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger behind a .314/.367/.520 slash line that yielded 200 hits, 36 doubles, 19 triples, 19 home runs, 84 RBI, 32 stolen bases and an 8.5 WAR. Sandberg’s 200 hits, 36 doubles, 19 triples and 8.5 WAR were career highs, while his 114 runs scored, 19 triples, 8.5 WAR and .424 rOBA also led the National League.

In 1990, Sandberg finished fourth in NL MVP voting while capturing his eighth Gold Glove and fifth Silver Slugger award. He finished the season with a career-high 40 home runs, 100 RBI, 116 runs scored, .559 slugging percentage, .913 OPS and 344 total bases. Sandberg’s 40 home runs, 116 runs scored and 344 total bases also led the National League.

Ernie Banks

Ernie Banks, the man known for his limitless positivity and was dubbed “Mr. Cub,” had a six-year run where he averaged 41 home runs and 116 RBI with a .294/.359/.579 slash line, none of which were more impressive than his performances at the plate in 1958 and 1959.

In 1958, Banks won his first of back-to-back NL MVP awards. Widely regarded as one of the best hitting shortstops of all-time, he led the National League in home runs (47), RBI (129), slugging percentage (.614) and total bases (379) in 1958 before following that up with another great performance.

In 1959, Banks posted a league-leading 10.2 WAR while batting .304/.374/.596 with a .970 OPS, 45 home runs, 143 RBI on his way to a second-consecutive NL MVP award.

Billy Herman

Billy Herman was an extra base machine who made eight straight All-Star teams for the Cubs from the mid-1930s to the early-1940s.

In back-to-back seasons from 1935-36, Herman set and tied a club record for doubles in a single season (57) and finished top 4 in National League MVP voting in both seasons.

In 1935, Herman slashed .341/.383/.476 with 57 doubles, six triples, seven home runs and 83 RBI. He led the NL in hits (227), doubles and sacrifice hits (24) that season.

In 1936, he batted .334/.392/.470 with 57 doubles, seven triples, five home runs and 93 RBI, finishing third in National League MVP voting.

Hack Wilson

Hack Wilson, who played six seasons for the Cubs, had one of the best hitting seasons in MLB history in 1930.

Wilson took home NL MVP honors after posting a .356/.454/.723 slash line that came with 56 home runs, 191 RBI and more walks (105) than strikeouts (84).

He led the National League in home runs, RBI, walks, strikeouts, slugging percentage, OPS (1.177), OPS+ (177), rOBA (.488) and Rbat+ (178), while his 191 RBI is a single-season MLB record to this day.

Rogers Hornsby

The last season on this list happened one year prior to Wilson’s historic performance in the batter’s box.

Rogers Hornsby, arguably MLB’s all-time best second baseman, won his second and final MVP award in his first season as a member of the North Siders in 1929.

Hornsby batted .380 with a .459 on-base percentage and a .679 slugging percentage on his way to 229 hits, 39 home runs, 47 doubles, eight triples, 149 RBI, 156 runs scored and 409 total bases. He led the NL in runs scored, slugging percentage, OPS (1.139), OPS+ (178), rOBA (.493), Rbat+ (183) and total bases.

So where is Crow-Armstrong poised to finish the year?

While it’s fair to say he’s not going to be putting up Sosa, Wilson or Hornsby numbers this season, if Crow-Armstrong maintains his pace, he can become the first Cubs hitter to join the 40/40 club.

The hitters who came closest to accomplishing the feat were Sandberg and Alfonso Soriano. Sandberg notched 26 home runs and 54 stolen bases in 1985, then 40 home runs and 25 stolen bases in 1990. Soriano joined the 40/40 club as a member of the Washington Nationals in 2006, a year before he signed with the Cubs as a free agent.

If PCA finishes with 43 home runs, 130 RBI, 122 runs and 47 stolen bases, he would be firmly in the argument for best single-season hitting performance, post Sosa.

Here’s how he compares head-to-head with 2016 Kris Bryant and 2005 Derrek Lee:

2025 Pete Crow-Armstrong (hypothetical): .282/.317/.569, .886 OPS, 43 doubles, 10 triples, 43 home runs, 130 RBI, 47 stolen bases

2016 Kris Bryant: .292/.385/.554, .939 OPS, 35 doubles, 3 triples, 39 home runs, 102 RBI, 8 stolen bases

2005 Derrek Lee: .335/.418/.662, 1.080 OPS, 50 doubles, 3 triples, 46 home runs, 107 RBI, 15 stolen bases

Here’s where Crow-Armstrong would sit among the best single-season hitting performances if he were to finish the year with the numbers above:

Home runs:

1. Sammy Sosa – 66
2. Sammy Sosa – 64
3. Sammy Sosa – 63
4. Hack Wilson – 56
5. Sammy Sosa – 50

*13. Pete Crow-Armstrong – 43 (tied with Ernie Banks)

RBI:

1. Hack Wilson – 191
2. Sammy Sosa – 160
3. Hack Wilson – 159
4. Sammy Sosa – 158
5. Rogers Hornsby – 149

*12. Pete Crow-Armstrong – 130 (tied with Walt Wilmot)

Runs scored:

1. Rogers Hornsby – 156
2. Kiki Cuyler – 155
3. King Kelly – 155
4. Woody English – 152
5. Bill Dahlen/George Gore – 150

*25. Pete Crow-Armstrong – 122 (tied with Jimmy Ryan, Sammy Sosa)

Stolen bases:

1. Bill Lange – 84
2. Walt Wilmot – 76
3. Walt Wilmot – 76
4. Bill Lange – 73
5. Frank Chance/Bill Lange – 67

*22. Pete Crow-Armstrong – 47 (tied with Bill Everitt, Bill Lange and Davey Lopes)