Pete Crow-Armstrong just hit 40 home runs, and now the 40-40 club is staring him down
The Cubs center fielder became the first player in franchise history with 40 homers and 30 steals in a season - and with 18 games left, he needs just seven more thefts to pull off one of baseball's rarest feats.
In brief
Seven stolen bases away from history
Seven stolen bases. That's the only thing standing between Pete Crow-Armstrong and one of the most exclusive clubs in baseball. On September 6 at loanDepot Park in Miami, the Cubs center fielder blasted his 40th home run of the season against the Marlins, checking off the first half of a potential 40-homer, 40-stolen-base campaign. He has 33 steals already. Eighteen games remain on Chicago's regular-season schedule. The math is not complicated. The pressure, however, is very real.
With 33 steals on his ledger, the NL MVP frontrunner has a shot at recording just the seventh 40-40 season in MLB history. Nobody has done it since Ronald Acuña Jr. in 2023. Nobody in a Cubs uniform has come close - to any of what Crow-Armstrong is doing right now.
A franchise all to himself
Standing alone, Crow-Armstrong is the first player in Cubs history to record 40 home runs and 30 stolen bases in a season. That covers more than a century of baseball at Wrigley Field. Ernie Banks. Billy Williams. Sammy Sosa. None of them did this.
The 40th homer itself was vintage Crow-Armstrong: with the Cubs trailing 3-2 in the top of the fifth inning, he jumped on the first pitch from Marlins starter Tyler Phillips - an 84.7 mph sweeper that caught the middle of the zone. He didn't miss it.
It is also the second-most home runs in a season at age 24 or younger in Cubs history, behind Ernie Banks in 1955 with 44. Manager Craig Counsell let the moment land without overselling it. "Forty home runs - it's a hard number to get to and not many guys ever get to it in their career, so it was cool to see, and the season's not over," Counsell said. "He's got more to add to the number."
The company he keeps
Age 24. Forty home runs. Thirty-plus stolen bases. Crow-Armstrong became just the fourth player in MLB history age 24 or younger to accomplish the 40-homer, 30-steal feat, joining Ronald Acuña Jr., Alex Rodriguez and Jose Canseco. Canseco and Acuña each won MVP honors after achieving the feat. That context is not lost on anyone in the NL MVP conversation.
Only Philadelphia's Kyle Schwarber has more home runs among MLB hitters entering September, with 42. Crow-Armstrong leads the NL with a .573 slugging percentage and a .948 OPS, while batting .280 with 28 doubles and 96 RBI. His 9.5 WAR sits comfortably at the top of the league ranks. This isn't a counting-stats mirage built on a hitter-friendly park. NBC Sports' James Schiano noted that Crow-Armstrong is now the fourth player ever to reach 40 HRs and 30 stolen bases in the last ten years.
And the defense hasn't slipped. He won his first Gold Glove in center field in 2025 and has only gotten better there in 2026. He is easily having one of the best seasons in franchise history - let alone one of the most well-rounded seasons in MLB history - and his 9.5 WAR is comfortably at the top of the league ranks.
How he got here
The power surge didn't come from nowhere. After hitting 14 home runs in August alone, the MVP frontrunner entered the final month of the regular season with 38 homers. That's not a hot streak. That's a demolition. Before August, he was already in the 30-30 conversation; the month turned him into a legitimate 40-40 candidate almost overnight.
The power Crow-Armstrong is showing now is the result of a swing he has spent years learning to harness. The player himself doesn't want to get too far ahead. "I know how old I am. I know how many years I've been up here, and I also know that there will be another one that does it younger than me," Crow-Armstrong said. That's an interesting way to process a historic season - acknowledging the record while pre-emptively handing it off to whoever comes next.
What the 40-40 chase actually means for Chicago
The Cubs need this. The 2026 MLB regular season runs through September 27, with the postseason beginning September 29. Chicago is in the thick of the NL wild-card race, and Crow-Armstrong's individual production is the engine. The Cubs couldn't even complete the series sweep in Miami - Miami pulled away behind a two-run homer from Javier Sanoja and a solo shot from Heriberto Hernandez, preventing Chicago from finishing the three-game sweep. The team still needs him to carry them in September, not just to chase stat milestones.
Still, the milestones matter. Chicago hadn't had any player reach the 40-homer mark since Derrek Lee smashed 46 during the 2005 season. That's 21 years. The franchise waited through the Soriano years, the Bryant years, the lean rebuilds, and the slow crawl back to relevance. Now they have a 24-year-old center fielder measuring himself against Ernie Banks and chasing a season only six players in the sport's entire history have ever finished.
Crow-Armstrong needs seven steals in 18 games. He has averaged roughly two per week over the course of the season. The calendar is tight but not impossible - and he'll have every opportunity, since the Cubs will be playing meaningful games deep into the month.
His next scheduled home game at Wrigley is Tuesday night against the Milwaukee Brewers, a division rival the Cubs still have to fight past to lock up playoff position. The 40-40 watch will run alongside the standings race right through the final weekend.
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CAN I KICK IT? screens New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument, on Aug. 22. (Courtesy SHAOLIN JAZZ)
The live-cinema series CAN I KICK IT? returns to the National Mall this month with what its producers are calling the "Gangsters on the Mall" chapter of their free outdoor summer run. On Saturday, August 22, the SHAOLIN JAZZ production brings the 1991 crime classic New Jack City to the Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument for a night of film, music, and community under the DC summer sky.
What sets the event apart is the sound. As the film plays, DJ 2-Tone Jones builds an original score in real time, reimagining one of the most iconic crime movies of the ’90s through hip-hop, soul, funk, and more. It is less a movie screening than a live performance built around the film.
The details:
Film: New Jack City (1991), with a live soundtrack by DJ 2-Tone Jones
When: Saturday, August 22 — seating opens at 7:30 p.m. (bring lawn chairs and blankets); film begins at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument, Independence Ave SW & 15th St NW
A parking note from the organizers: expect road closures and restricted parking east of 14th Street NW due to a separate race event in the District. Roads west of 14th Street NW will be accessible and available for parking.
New Jack City is the second of three screenings in this year’s free CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series, which opened with Black Panther at Skyland Town Center and concludes with Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial on September 5. Produced by the Washington, DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, the series has presented more than 150 live cinematic experiences at venues across the country, from Lincoln Center to SXSW.
"I wanted to be able to tell good stories with substance and remove the ‘ego’ out of the art," said Andrew Huang during a recent interview. Now, he’s building his career at the intersection of discipline, creativity and innovation.
Andrew Huang, founder of New Place Studios. (Courtesy photo)
As a Chinese American, Huang was reared with a deep respect for hard work, consistency and excellence. He describes his childhood as "not so affluent" and later attended college to hone his passion for videography. "In college I tried to do something I loved, which was video, but along the way I knew that I had to find a job. And so I thought, ‘what was the low hanging fruit to get to that stable 9 to 5 job?,’" he stated.
Later in life, Huang found himself working for corporations where his creativity was often limited, eventually leading to burnout. "I worked in a corporation for a long time and there were a lot of missing pieces. I wanted to fill in gaps missing in corporate video production," said Huang.
He later described how his upbringing and a mindset of "survival" led him toward a corporate career. However, his desire for balance and authentic storytelling ultimately pushed him to take the entrepreneurial leap.
"I founded a new place where you can create video and film with ‘substance and style,’" said Huang. His desire for work-life balance and passion for storytelling naturally evolved into a small business based in Virginia. With the launch of New Place Studios, the entrepreneur quickly found himself reconnecting with the values that would become the foundation of everything he creates behind the camera.
Huang said being a business owner has allowed him to first embrace himself. While others may see video as simply capturing moments, he sees it as a way to preserve stories that inspire, connect and leave a lasting imprint.
By combining cinematic visuals with cutting-edge production techniques and a keen understanding of branding, Huang helps organizations and individuals communicate their vision with purpose. He said understanding a client’s "why" serves as the compass for delivering the services they need.
One benefit of working with a small business, he said, is that clients get to see the production process unfold through a micro lens while working with the same faces throughout the entire project. "The work feels personal," said Huang.
Huang does not regret leaving behind the flash-over-substance mentality and corporate hustle culture. That does not mean the Asian American entrepreneur has been without challenges in the industry. "It’s relatively hard to find other Asian American creatives or people who would want to work with me in the DMV," said Huang.
He identifies the industry culture in which everyone is trying to blend in, creatives may fear displaying their Asian identity and some feel pressure to adopt an American corporate persona. He also points to what he describes as a level of gatekeeping within the industry. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2024 statistics, Asian American and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs own more than 3 million businesses and employ 5.2 million people in the United States.
After tapping into organizations such as SCORE, which offers free small business mentorship, New Place Studios has become a trusted creative partner throughout the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia). The company produces a range of creative services, including commercials, corporate branding, documentaries, film, 2D animation, motion graphics and photography.
For Huang, entrepreneurship has become more than a departure from corporate life. It has given him the freedom to create with intention, build meaningful connections and tell stories that go beyond the surface.
The 2026 CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
For three Saturdays this summer, some of Washington’s most familiar public spaces will do something they rarely do after dark: fill up with blankets, lawn chairs, and the sound of a movie being scored live, in real time. CAN I KICK IT?, the traveling “live cinema” series produced by the DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, is bringing a free outdoor run to the city — pairing three era-defining films with an original soundtrack performed on the spot by DJ 2-Tone Jones.
The premise is what sets it apart from a normal screening in the park. Rather than simply pressing play, 2-Tone Jones builds a score as the film unfolds, pulling from hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz, rock, electronic music, and sounds from around the world. The result, the organizers say, is less a movie night than a one-time performance — the same film you know, wired to a soundtrack you have never heard and will not hear again. Guest DJs warm up the crowd starting at 7:30 PM before each 8:30 PM screening.
The 2026 outdoor schedule
All three events are free and open to the public.
Saturday, August 8 — Black Panther at Skyland Town Center. A pop-up marketplace and community activities kick off the evening; guest DJs at 7:30 PM, film at 8:30 PM. Marvel’s superhero epic gets a one-night-only live score in Southeast DC.
Saturday, August 22 — New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument. Seating begins at 7:30 PM; the film starts at 8:30 PM. The 1991 crime drama plays out at the foot of one of the country’s most recognizable landmarks.
Saturday, September 5 — Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial. Seating at 7:30 PM; film at 8:30 PM. The series closes with Brian De Palma’s crime saga against the backdrop of the Memorial, scored live from start to finish.
First up: Black Panther at Skyland Town Center on August 8. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
A DC company with a national footprint
SHAOLIN JAZZ describes itself as a Washington-based arts company working at the intersection of music, film, art, and culture, and CAN I KICK IT? is its signature production. According to the organizers, the series has staged more than 150 live cinematic experiences around the country — at performing arts centers, museums, festivals, and cultural institutions including Lincoln Center in New York, SXSW, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Republic Square in Austin, the Tacoma Armory, and The Cary Theater.
“CAN I KICK IT? has always been about creating a shared experience,” said Gerald Watson, co-founder of SHAOLIN JAZZ. “When you combine iconic films with live music in public spaces, something special happens. People aren’t just watching a movie — they’re experiencing it together. That’s what makes these nights so memorable.”
Cinema as a community event
The DC run lands as cities across the country look for new ways to activate public space through arts and culture — and this series is a straightforward pitch for how to do it: take a landmark everyone already knows, add a film everyone has an opinion about, and let a live soundtrack turn the evening into something neighbors experience shoulder to shoulder. Families, film buffs, and music fans are all invited, and admission won’t cost a thing.
The CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series runs August 8, August 22, and September 5. All events are free; check SHAOLIN JAZZ (shaolinjazz.com) for the latest details and any weather updates before heading out.
