Pete Crow-Armstrong becomes 7th player in MLB history to join 40-40 club

Pete Crow-Armstrong has joined the 40-40 club, becoming just the seventh player in major league history to reach 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in the same season, per MLB.com's Jordan Bastian.

What happened

Crow-Armstrong crossed both thresholds to earn a place in a group that has existed for decades but has never grown crowded. Seven players in the entire history of the sport have done it. That is not a typo, and it is not a rounding error — it is one of the most exclusive statistical addresses in baseball.

Why it matters

The 40-40 benchmark is not an arbitrary round number dressed up as a milestone. It demands two things that rarely coexist in the same player: the raw power to drive the ball out of the park at an elite rate, and the speed and instincts to threaten on the bases consistently enough to rack up 40 steals. Most players who can do one cannot do the other at that volume. The fact that only seven players in MLB history have managed it — across well over a century of professional baseball — tells you something about how unusual the combination is.

For the Cubs, the timing carries its own weight. Chicago is heading into the final days of the regular season with a home game Thursday against the Miami Marlins at Wrigley Field, with Matthew Boyd taking the mound against Tyler Phillips. The club then travels to Fenway Park for a Friday series against the Boston Red Sox, with Clay Holmes and David Peterson both listed as probable starters for that day.

Where the club stands

The Cubs are playing out the final stretch of the 2026 regular season, and Crow-Armstrong's milestone arrives at a moment when the organization is also managing the health of Alex Bregman. The third baseman was struck in the face by a foul ball while in the on-deck circle earlier this week and was subsequently diagnosed with facial fractures. Per reporting over the past several days, Bregman is not expected to require surgery and a postseason return has not been ruled out. As of Wednesday, he was reported to be ramping up activity as he works toward a return. Whether he is available for the Cubs this weekend remains unconfirmed.

What we don't know yet

The exact game and moment in which Crow-Armstrong reached the milestone has not been specified in the available reporting. Where he ranks among the seven members of the club — whether by home run total, stolen base total, or the pace at which he reached the mark — is not detailed in the material at hand.

On the Bregman front, no specific return date has been announced. Reports have referenced a possible weekend return and postseason availability, but those remain conditional and unconfirmed.

What to watch

The obvious thread to follow is whether Crow-Armstrong can add to either total in the final days of the regular season, and how the Cubs deploy him as they close out the schedule. The Bregman situation is the other live wire: if he is available for the postseason, Chicago's lineup looks considerably different than it does without him. The next few days of activity — and the Cubs' own announcements — will clarify both.

For now, Crow-Armstrong's name is in the record books. Seven players. That is the whole list.