The Chicago Cubs are officially the best defensive team in the National League.
For the second time in the six years since MLB started handing out a team Gold Glove award, the Cubs took home the accolade.
The Rawlings team Gold Glove was handed out Friday evening. The Texas Rangers won the award in the American League.
The Cubs had three Gold Glove winners in the NL, more than any other team in the league. Nico Hoerner won at second base, Ian Happ took home his fourth straight in left field and Pete Crow-Armstrong won his first-ever Gold Glove award.
The Cubs also had three other players among the finalists for their respective position — third baseman Matt Shaw, pitcher Matthew Boyd and catcher Carson Kelly.
The Milwaukee Brewers won the team Gold Glove in both 2024 and 2023. The St. Louis Cardinals won in the two years before that and the Cubs took home the award in 2020, the first year of its existence.
The Cubs won 92 games in the regular season and made it to Game 5 of the NLDS thanks in large part to that dynamic defense.
“I felt like it was huge,” Ian Happ said in an interview with Marquee Sports Network. “I think it was a real identity of the 2025 group. The six guys that were nominated had fantastic defensive seasons. But you also had Dansby [Swanson], a multiple time Gold Glove winner, one of the best shortstops in baseball. [Michael] Busch had a phenomenal year, and what Cars [Kelly] did back there was fantastic and Reese [McGuire] stepped in and was great defensively.
“When you have a team like we were with that caliber of defense, it can be really suffocating on the other team. They hit balls hard, they think they have extra-base hits, and they get taken away consistently. And then I also think it gives your pitching staff a lot of confidence. It lets those guys go in there and throw strikes and not be afraid that if the ball’s put in play, the defense is going to be out there making plays for him.”
[PCA chats with Marquee Sports Network after securing first-ever Gold Glove]
The Cubs led the NL by a wide margin with 84 Defensive Runs Saved as a team — 17 more than the next-closest team (Los Angeles Dodgers – 67 DRS). Only the Texas Rangers (89) had a higher DRS.
The North Siders also paced the entire league in MLB’s Statcast defensive metrics. The Cubs led baseball with 36 Outs Above Average and 30 runs prevented.
“One of the really cool things is when you get pitchers who come in from other organizations — or it’s their first time with the Cubs — and this year, we had a few that would say, ‘this is the best defensive team I’ve ever seen play behind me,’” Happ said. “That’s a really cool feeling as a teammate, as a defender, to be able to give that to your pitching staff. I think we were a great example of just making that important as a group and then making it part of our identity.”
The post Cubs take home NL team Gold Glove award after strong defensive season appeared first on Marquee Sports Network – Home of the Cubs, Bears, Red Stars and Sky.
