The Cubs had the best offense in baseball and the first 40–40 season in franchise history. They won 89 games, held a 7½-game Wild Card lead in mid-August, and got Pete Crow-Armstrong an MVP-caliber year. Then October lasted two games in San Diego. Here’s the whole 2026 season, checked against the box scores.
The short version
- Record: 89–73, second in the NL Central, 14 games behind a 103-win Milwaukee team. Manager: Craig Counsell.
- Expectations: PECOTA had them at 90 wins and running away with the division. They hit the number. Milwaukee blew past theirs.
- The offense: Per MLB.com, the Cubs led the majors in runs, walks, slugging and OPS, and led the NL in home runs (220).
- Postseason: Second NL Wild Card. Swept at San Diego, 8–0 and 4–1.
PCA’s historic year
Pete Crow-Armstrong had the best season by a Cub in a generation: .280, 45 home runs, 107 RBI, 41 steals, a .943 OPS and 9.8 WAR (Baseball-Reference), playing all 162 games.
- He became the first 40–40 player in Cubs history, and the seventh in MLB history, when he stole second in the first inning against Miami at Wrigley on Sept. 24. The Cubs won that night 2–1 and clinched a playoff spot.
- His 45 homers are a Cubs record for a left-handed hitter, passing Billy Williams’ 42 in 1970, and the most by any Cub since Derrek Lee’s 46 in 2005.
- He was the team’s lone All-Star, his second straight selection. The Sun-Times calls him the presumptive MVP.
The rest of the lineup
- Alex Bregman: 28 homers, 93 RBI, .819 OPS.
- Seiya Suzuki: 26 homers, 86 RBI, .841 OPS.
- Nico Hoerner stole 23 bases.
The arms
- Shota Imanaga anchored the rotation: 11–10, a 3.77 ERA over 174⅓ innings, and 174 strikeouts, leading the staff in all three.
- Matthew Boyd won 10. Jacob Webb led the bullpen with 9 saves (36 as a team).
- At the Aug. 3 deadline the Cubs went shopping: Kevin Gausman from Toronto, Clay Holmes and outfielder Tyrone Taylor from the Mets, reliever Ryan Zeferjahn from the Angels, and Braxton Garrett from Miami.
The ride
- Wrigley magic: 15 straight wins at home, the 15th an 8–3 win over the Reds on May 7. It was the longest Wrigley streak since 1935, and it put them at 26–12.
- Then the skid: 10 straight losses, ending with a 12–1 loss in Pittsburgh on May 26.
- Crosstown: a 3–3 split with the Sox, with three wins each and two games in extra innings. The Cubs took two of three at Wrigley in August, including a Bregman walk-off single on Aug. 18.
- The slide: the Cubs led the NL Wild Card race by 7½ games on Aug. 12, but slipped to the second spot on the final weekend and had to open on the road.
October: two games in San Diego
- Game 1, Sept. 29: Padres 8, Cubs 0. Fernando Tatis Jr. led off with a homer and Manny Machado went deep in the first. Michael King carried a no-hit bid into the seventh.
- Game 2, Sept. 30: Padres 4, Cubs 1. Pinch-hitter Gavin Sheets hit a two-out, two-run homer in the fourth. Nico Hoerner’s RBI single was the Cubs’ only run of the series.
Baseball’s best offense went 8-for-62 (.129) in the series.
What’s next
Crow-Armstrong is the centerpiece of whatever comes next, with awards season still to play out. Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki head into free agency, so the offseason starts with real questions. A season this good with an ending this short is going to sting all winter on the North Side.
Sources: Baseball-Reference (2026 Cubs), MLB.com, MLB.com (40–40), Chicago Sun-Times, FOX 32, Bleacher Nation (PECOTA).