2 Cubs projected to win Gold Gloves - highlighting a major strength of this team

Defense matters. Especially when your offense is working its way through a second-half slump and injuries have taken a toll on your lineup. While the starting pitching - and a group of bullpen standouts - have garnered much of the praise this year, the Chicago Cubs' defense has been a driving force behind the team's push to October.

FanGraphs has the Cubs as the second-best defensive team in all of Major League Baseball - and ranks them #1 in the National League. A big reason why? The efforts of All-Star center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong and stalwart second baseman Nico Hoerner.

MLB.com predicts two Cubs players will win Gold Glove Awards

A new piece at MLB.com goes through both leagues, position by position, predicting which players will bring home a Gold Glove this year - and both Hoerner and PCA take top billing.

Anyone who watches the Cubs even on a semi-regular basis knows PCA catches pretty much anything hit in the same ZIP code, thanks to a revamped defensive approach and elite speed. For me, though, Hoerner's glovework, which has long been a staple of his game, deserves just as much love.

Here's what the piece had to say on Hoerner:

Hoerner, a 2023 NL Gold Glove winner, has arguably become MLB's pre-eminent defensive second baseman. His plus-12 Fielding Run value is the best mark among all second basemen, as are his 14 Outs Above Average and his 17 DRS. He paces the position with 233 putouts, too.

And, of course, it had nothing but praise for Crow-Armstrong's defensive heroics, as well:

Crow-Armstrong has a habit of making the seemingly impossible look routine, hauling in outs that would fall for hits in front of most other outfielders. He’s converted 14 five-star plays, six more than the next closest outfielder, compiling one of the best defensive seasons that Stacast has on record. His plus-20 Fielding Run Value is the best among all outfielders, while his 19 OAA are tied for most among the group.

Obviously, if the Cubs are going to make noise in the postseason next month, the offense will have to hang some crooked numbers. But there's a path to success even without the bats returning to the juggernaut form we saw prior to the All-Star Break, one of defense and strong pitching - and these two Cubs stars can lead the charge down that path, just as they have all season long.