What should have been a step up from an electric 2025 turned into another building-block season for the Chicago Cubs in 2026. Before the calendar could even flip to October, things fell flat, and the Cubs were left with no option but to look back at a roller coaster of a year .
A roster plagued with injuries exposed structural holes while also allowing some guys to step up and show that they'll be here long-term. Let's take a look at who rose the ranks and who desperately needs a bounce-back year in 2027.
Sep 24, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong (4) acknowledges the crowd after stealing second base during the first inning against the Miami Marlins at Wrigley Field. It was his 40th stolen base. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Pete Crow-Armstrong
This one's quiet obvious -- we're talking about the soon-to-be 2026 NL MVP here.
Pete Crow-Armstrong followed up a breakout campaign in 2025 first with a six-year, $115 million contract extension, which now seems like one of baseball's biggest-ever bargains.
The 24-year-old put up otherworldly numbers on both sides of the ball and finished the year with a 10.6 fWAR and a 9.8 bWAR, making him the only player in MLB history to put up a 10-WAR season with 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases. He led MLB in both Fielding Run Value and Outs Above Average .
Crow-Armstrong's heroics throughout the season were largely what kept the Cubs in postseason contention amid injuries and prolonged losing streaks. He'll etch his name into the franchise history books come November, and then he'll look to build on an MVP season as the Cubs set out to finally dethrone the Milwaukee Brewers next year.
Ben Brown
It's been said again and again, but Ben Brown put a historically bad Cubs pitching staff on his back despite playing in just 20 games.
The lanky right-hander showed up for the 2026 season with a sinker added to his arsenal, and it made him a completely new pitcher. In just 68 innings of work, Brown posted a 1.85 ERA with a 0.94 WHIP and 65 strikeouts. His 2.0 bWAR led Cubs pitchers in 2026, and he didn't throw a single pitch after June 19.
Brown was due to ramp back up in August from a stress reaction in his neck, but a setback during a rehab throwing session ruled him out for the rest of the season.
Brown's health will be something to monitor in the offseason and the spring, but what he showed in 2026 are signs of a major piece of the Cubs' pitching staff for years to come.
Seiya Suzuki
This is both a good thing and a bad thing for the Cubs.
The good thing is that Seiya Suzuki has become every bit of the hitter the Cubs hoped for when they brought him over from Japan in 2022. He finished 2026 with a slash line of .270/.368/.473 (.841 OPS) to go along with 26 home runs and 86 RBI.
In his five-year tenure in Chicago, he has a career .823 OPS with 113 total home runs. His defense in right field improved massively over the years, culminating in earning a finalist spot for a Gold Glove Award this season.
The bad news is that Suzuki will hit free agency this winter and, as he's likely to draw significant interest around the league, there's no guarantee that he'll put on the pinstripes again in 2027.Whether the Cubs make a major push for him will be one of the bigger stories of this offseason.
Aug 25, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Chicago Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Nico Hoerner's 2026 was a tale of two halves. Fresh off a six-year, $141 million extension, the second baseman jumped out to a hot start but slumped massively in May and June, leading to a slash line of just .233/.305./.326 (.631 OPS) prior to the All-Star break.
Hoerner's offense improved in the second half to the tune of .307/.335/.386 (.720 OPS), and he was one of the few Cubs to show up offensively in the NL Wild Card Series against the San Diego Padres. However, concerns stood out about his plate approach overall.
Hitting with runners in scoring position has always been Hoerner's bread and butter -- in 2025, he hit .371 with 51 RBI and an .881 OPS with RISP. He's a career .303 hitter with RISP.
But strangely, that production really dropped off in 2026. Hoerner slashed just .253/.304/.318 (.622 OPS) with RISP, and oftentimes it was clear that he wasn't exactly comfortable in his approach. He was getting under the ball far more overall, popping up 7.6% of the time compared to 5.8% in 2025. With that, he added more weak contact compared to last season.
For a hitter typically known to stay on top of the ball and punch it the other way, Hoerner often looked like a shell of the hitter he was last season.
This is by no means to suggest that Hoerner is in a dire situation. His defense remains elite and his offensive surge in the second half was encouraging. It will be on the Cubs' hitting staff to identify why he struggled with his quality of contact this season and fix it for 2027.
Edward Cabrera's 2026 season was a market crash more than anything. Jed Hoyer admitted in his end-of-season press conference that he got things wrong in terms of offseason acquisitions, and Cabrera was one of those that the Cubs made a big splash for.
Cabrera was on the Cubs' radar in 2025, and they finally jumped at the opportunity to get him last winter. There was a lot of hype around the 28-year-old right-hander, and he showed flashes of brilliance early on in the season when he started his campaign with two consecutive scoreless outings.
But things faltered after that, and Cabrera was never the same. Multiple trips to the IL halted any chance of improvement, and Cabrera finished the year with a 5.96 ERA in 80 innings. He did not make the Cubs' playoff roster.
The Cubs believe Cabrera has the talent, and this winter will be a major project to rebuild confidence and figure out what went wrong this season.
With Owen Ayers rising up the ranks in the minors and knocking on the door of an MLB debut in 2027, it's seeming more and more like the Cubs may have to choose the future between Miguel Amaya and Carson Kelly.
Kelly has a mutual option for 2027, while Amaya is still pre-arbitration and under club control.
Still, Amaya's 2026 season felt like his role in the catching tandem was on thin ice. Kelly was the better defensive catcher in 2026, while keeping a firm advantage over Amaya in terms of contact quality and plate discipline.
Amaya wasn't able to follow up on his mini breakout in 2025, which saw him hit .281 with an .841 OPS in an injury-shortened year.
He was particularly dismal with RISP this season, hitting .179 with two outs in those situations and .120 in games that were late and close.
If there was ever a prove-it year for Amaya, 2027 is trending toward being so.
Michael Busch's 2026 was pretty disappointing on the offensive side of things. He hit just 20 home runs compared to 34 last season, and his OPS dropped from .866 to .745.
His hard-hit rate went down a whopping 7.5%, and his barrel rate was down 8%. One positive for Busch was the slight improvement in his plate discipline, as he cut his strikeout rate by 0.3% and increased his walk rate from 9.5% to 13%.
Much like Hoerner, Busch's issues lie with the quality of his contact, and that's something that should be adjusted in the offseason. His defense still firmly makes him the Cubs' first baseman for the near future.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/mlb/cubs/onsi as Cubs Stock Watch: Who is Up and Who is Down After 2026 Season? .
