Pete Crow-Armstrong's contract extension confirms Cubs learned from their World Series' downfall

The 2016 season was glorious. Kris Bryant rightfully won the MVP Award, Kyle Hendricks secured an ERA title, and the Chicago Cubs did the impossible, breaking the 108-year championship drought to bring the Commissioner's Trophy back to Wrigley.

Of course, that famed core never returned to the Fall Classic, falling just short in 2017 before completely imploding down the stretch the following season. By 2021, nearly every notable player from the World Series-winning roster was gone, including the Big 3 of Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, and Javier Báez.

While this iteration of the team has yet to win a title — heck, they haven't even made the NLCS yet — the front office isn't taking any chances this time around. Pete Crow-Armstrong, the heart and soul of this era of Cubs baseball, is signing an extension that will tie him to the franchise for the long haul.

It's a refreshing move to say the least. The Cubs have been one of the few major-market organizations that haven't gone all-in on long-term extensions for young players in recent seasons, leading to endless calls from fans to invest in the core of the team.

A decade after failing to do just that, the North Siders are on their way to rectifying their past mistakes.

Pete-Crow Armstrong extensions marks new chapter for Cubs' operating directive

Quite famously, the Cubs weren't able to reach agreements with any of their young stars on that 2016 team, save for Hendricks, who only agreed to an extension years later.

That lack of long-term money on the books did allow the team to commit wholeheartedly to a rebuild, and hindsight was kind to the team, seeing as Bryant, Rizzo, and Báez all significantly declined after leaving Chicago.

However, that doesn't excuse the overall lack of urgency the team has displayed in locking down core pieces. The only notable extensions the Cubs have given out since the Hendricks deal were to Nico Hoerner and Ian Happ, and even those deals were only for three seasons.

The full details of Crow-Armstrong's extension haven't been finalized, but according to North Side Baseball's Matthew Trueblood, the terms are expected to follow the templates laid out in the extensions signed by Corbin Carroll and Jackson Merrill. Those deals were for eight and nine years, respectively.

PCA was absolutely the priority, and getting a nine-figure deal done with him should break the dam. Now, other key members of this team — including Hoerner, Michael Busch, Cade Horton, and Daniel Palencia — should be approached with visions of staying in the Friendly Confines for years to come.

Good on the Cubs for breaking old habits and signing a pre-arb star to a long-term deal. Hopefully, this is just the first of many extensions we'll have to celebrate in 2026.