Expectations for Cubs Star Outfielder Following Breakout 2025 Season
One of the biggest and most exciting storylines of the 2025 MLB season was the breakout campaign of 23-year-old Cubs outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong. The third-year CF took the baseball world by storm in the spring with his playmaking ability on defense and his high-powered bat on offense. Crow-Armstrong won a Gold Glove Award, was selected to the All-MLB Second Team, and even found himself in early-season NL MVP conversations. Although his production would gradually slow down throughout late summer and fall, including a disappointing postseason showing in which he hit .185 in nine games, Crow-Armstrong’s impact on the Cubs’ season, especially in the first half, cannot be understated.
With how extreme the highs and lows of Crow-Armstrong’s performance were last year, it’s still tough to judge whether he is a legitimately valuable piece for the franchise. Throughout sports history, there have been several instances of an athlete catching lightning in a bottle for a limited amount of time, before ultimately fading back into irrelevancy. These phenomena are commonly referred to as “Linsanity runs”, named after NBA player Jeremy Lin and his wildly successful run in the latter half of the 2011-2012 season. With how incredible Crow-Armstrong was playing in spring and early summer, and how quickly his performance declined in the later months of the season, the question needs to be asked: Will Pete Crow-Armstrong find his way back to the top of baseball, or will we look back on 2025 as just another “Linsanity run”?
The 2026 season is a make-or-break for Crow-Armstrong. If he continues to produce in the way he was in the early months of 2025, he will find himself with a firm grasp on baseball superstardom. However, if the post-All-Star break PCA is indicative of what is to come, he will slip out of the spotlight and into mediocrity. The pressure is on following a promising yet inconsistent 2025 campaign, and Crow-Armstrong will have every opportunity to prove himself, especially with the increased expectation for him to step up on both sides of the ball following the departure of Kyle Tucker, who played alongside Crow-Armstrong in the Cubs’ outfield last season.
