This story was excerpted from Jordan Bastian's Cubs Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
When Dansby Swanson was weighing his options in free agency four years ago, something the Cubs said about their vision for the roster stood out. Jed Hoyer, the team’s president of baseball operations, wanted to make defense a big part of the team’s identity.
“It was a pretty big selling point,” Swanson said. “Him kind of saying we have a chance to be really special up the middle as a group.”
At the time, Swanson’s arrival to Chicago moved Nico Hoerner back to second base, creating one of the more athletic duos up the middle in baseball. This was also “before Pete had really become Pete,” as Swanson put it, referring to Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, now one of the game’s elite defenders at any position.
That vision that was presented to Swanson became reality, leading to a 2026 Cubs team that is blowing away the field when it comes to defensive metrics. Entering Sunday, the North Siders had 58 Outs Above Average as a team, per Statcast. The 2017 Twins boast the single-season record (66) in the 10-year time period in which OAA has been tracked.
“Just as a whole group now in 2026,” Swanson said, “it’s almost unique in the way it’s so good from every position.”
Looking at OAA, the Cubs’ entire group of infield-outfield regulars is above average: Crow-Armstrong (22), Swanson (15), Hoerner (six), Alex Bregman (five), Michael Busch (four), Seiya Suzuki (four) and Ian Happ (one). The same goes for Fielding Run Value, with Crow-Armstrong (24) and Swanson (10) leading the way.
To say the Cubs are at least twice as good as any other team in the Majors is not an exaggeration, either. Chicago entered Sunday ranked first in MLB with a 62 FRV. The Blue Jays were second at 27. The Cubs had 58 OAA going into Sunday’s action. The D-backs ranked second at 29.
The 62 FRV turned in by Chicago to date is the highest for a team in a season since the 2018 D-backs had a 64 FRV. Last season, the Blue Jays led the Majors with a 45 FRV (the Cubs were second at 40). Since Swanson joined the fold in 2023, the Blue Jays (138) and Cubs (130) rank first and second, respectively, in FRV.
Back in 2016, when the Cubs won the World Series, that defense was lauded as the best in baseball and perhaps one of the greatest units the franchise had assembled. Well, the 2026 Cubs’ 58 OAA here in mid-August is already beyond what the '16 team posted (42 OAA).
“Defenses, just in baseball, aren’t talked about that much,” Swanson said. “Every time you look at the scoreboard, it shows the offense stats. For the pitcher, it shows his ERA. It doesn’t ever show what we’ve done as a team defensively. And I think that’s also the cool part about it, too.
“We have a lot of great individual defenders, but collectively as a group, we’ve played great defense, whether it’s positioning, throwing to the right bases, turning double plays, knocking balls down to keep runs from scoring. There’s more than just what’s in the stats.”
It is no surprise that every pitcher who has joined the Cubs via trade this season -- notably, Kevin Gausman, Clay Holmes and David Peterson -- have quickly mentioned being excited to pitch in front of Chicago’s defenders. The group has helped Peterson enjoy a strong in-season turnaround. Gausman, who made his debut for the team on Friday, raved about it after his start.
“I can’t say enough about this defense. You notice it right away,” Gausman said. “These guys are running all over the place and putting their body on the line. It was a lot of fun.”
Hearing those types of comments brings a smile to Swanson’s face.
“We love to make plays for our pitching staff,” he said. “When you have new guys that come in, you want to make plays even more so for those guys, not necessarily to prove what it’s like playing in front of our defense, but like I’ve said, it’s just a really unique group.”