CHICAGO -- pieced together a season for the ages this year, authoring one of the best showings in the storied history of the Cubs and one of the great all-around performances in baseball’s annals. It was a campaign filled with incredible catches, swift stolen bases and emphatic moments at the plate.

With Crow-Armstrong in the running for the National League’s MVP Award, which will be announced on Thursday (6 p.m. CT on MLB Network), this is a great time to revisit some of the best games from the star center fielder’s season. Here are my picks for Crow-Armstrong’s top five games of 2026:

1. Getting the first and last word vs. White Sox
The Crosstown Series between the Cubs and White Sox has had no shortage of memorable moments over the years, but what Crow-Armstrong did on Aug. 17 should be mentioned on any list of the rivalry’s top games for years to come.

“This might be his best game in the big leagues right here,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said after the North Siders’ 7-5 win in 10 innings. “It was an amazing game.”

That is saying a lot for a player who just became the seventh in MLB history to amass at least 40 homers and 40 steals in a single season. In this win, Crow-Armstrong did a little of everything, finishing the game 4-for-5 with two homers, a double, a walk, a stolen base and three RBIs. In the process, he secured his second straight 30-30 season.

Crow-Armstrong homered on the first pitch of the game and ended the night with a two-run, walk-off blast in the 10th inning. The center fielder became the sixth player in MLB history with a leadoff and walkoff homer in the same game, joining Vic Power (May 7, 1957) as only the second to homer off the first and last pitch his team saw. Go figure, Seattle’s Randy Arozarena also joined both lists just five days later -- against the Cubs.

2. Waving off St. Louis’ rowdy “tarps off” taunts
In the eighth inning of a 6-1 win over the Cardinals on May 30, Crow-Armstrong was being serenaded with chants of, “Overrated!” The repeated cries came from the shirtless, “tarps off” fans filling the right-field stands.

Crow-Armstrong was unfazed, sending a homer their way with a Statcast-clocked exit velocity of 114.6 mph (the hardest-hit homer of his career). The Cubs star waved a finger in the air -- mimicking the twirling of a shirt -- as he rounded first base.

“Shoot, I mean, he had a crazy day today,” Cardinals rookie JJ Wetherholt said after the game.

Crow-Armstrong ended the night 4-for-5 at the plate with a double and two RBIs, plus a hit-by-pitch. And he added a little more spice on the final out of the game.

On a line drive deep into the left-center gap from Jordan Walker, Crow-Armstrong covered 83 feet in 4.3 seconds, while hitting an elite sprint speed of 30.2 feet per second, per Statcast. The center fielder made a sliding grab on a play with a 5% catch probability, and waved goodbye to the crowd after coming to a stop.

3. Coming through at Slammin’ Sammy’s request
In the pregame hours before a wild 17-5 win over the Reds, a group of Cubs legends on hand for the ballcub’s 150th anniversary celebration were in the batting cage at Wrigley Field. The team’s all-time home run king, Sammy Sosa, had a request for Crow-Armstrong.

“He was like, ‘I want three out of you today. I need three,’” Crow-Armstrong said. “I don’t know what he passed down to me there.”

Crow-Armstrong led off with a homer in the first inning, sent a two-run blast off the right-field pole in the second and later ripped a three-run shot in the seventh. He had a shot at a fourth home run, but grounded out in his final at-bat of the day. Crow-Armstrong finished 4-for-6 with the first three-run game of his career.

4. Collecting his first career cycle
In a 5-4 win over the Rockies on June 15, Crow-Armstrong turned in the 13th cycle in Cubs history, doing so with a homer in the first inning, a triple in the third, a double in the fifth and a single in the seventh. He also added a key sacrifice fly in the eighth that helped position Chicago for a walk-off win an inning later. His performance marked the first “reverse cycle” in team history and only the 11th on record.

5. Coming up clutch (twice) against Giants
Crow-Armstrong connected for a pair of game-tying homers -- one in the sixth and another in the ninth -- to help set up a 3-2 walk-off win in 10 innings over the Giants on June 6. His 4-for-5 performance generated .739 Win Probability Added, which was his highest showing in a single game in ‘26. This was one of six games in which Crow-Armstrong piled up at least 10 total bases (tying an MLB record).