Cubs are facing an unfamiliar reality thanks to Pete Crow-Armstrong's historic 40-40 season

The Chicago Cubs had Kris Bryant until they didn't. The Chicago Cubs had Javier Baez until they didn't. The Chicago Cubs had Kyle Schwarber until they didn't. Same with Anthony Rizzo, he was forever going to be with the Chicago Cubs until the day that he was traded to the New York Yankees.

Even last year, the initial excitement of Kyle Tucker arriving to the Cubs felt like reality had been paused. The Cubs stepped outside of their comfort zone to trade for Tucker. But once the smoke cleared from the trade, the reality was that Tucker was going to spend only one season with the Cubs before landing with the Los Angeles Dodgers in free agency.

Above all else, that is why the season that Pete Crow-Armstrong is having feels different. One, it's historic, as made clear with him joining the 40-40 club after a stolen base during Thursday's game against the Miami Marlins. Secondly, Crow-Armstrong is in Chicago, he wants to be in Chicago, and he will be in Chicago.

Pete Crow-Armstrong's 40-40 season brings Cubs fans a reality they aren't used to

I'm not trying to say Kris Bryant's MVP season in 2016 wasn't special. It was. At the time, for this 30-something-year-old, it was best the individual season that I have watched as a Cubs fan. I didn't think I would see another season like that, mostly because of how superstars have been treated during their time with the Cubs. For better or worse, there was an expiration date that was always apparent.

That's not the case for Crow-Armstrong. He's 24 years old, and signed a six-year extension at the start of the season. Crow-Armstrong is going to be with the Cubs through the 2032 season. The Cubs have Crow-Armstrong and they will continue to have him for several years ahead.

Thursday was the final touch on Crow-Armstrong's MVP season. Nationally, this season will likely be viewed as the outlier, and a year where Shohei Ohtani was not the National League MVP. Similar to when Derrick Rose when the MVP award with the Chicago Bulls, it was a year where LeBron James happened to not win the award.

Locally, especially for Cubs fans, it means so much. The Cubs have a homegrown superstar they developed after a 2021 trade with the New York Mets. This isn't someone like Tucker, who arrived in Chicago already having one step out the door. And this isn't someone like Bryant, who despite being a homegrown MVP, it always felt like he was in a race toward free agency.

The Cubs don't have to think about any of that with Crow-Armstrong, and it's an amazing reality moving forward.

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