Cubs stars shine as finalists, but overlooked sluggers spark debate. Discover who narrowly missed the Silver Slugger cut despite stellar seasons.
Major League Baseball announced the National League finalists for the Silver Slugger Award for the 2025 season on Wednesday morning. The list includes sluggers like Pete Alonso, Ketel Marte, Juan Soto, Shohei Ohtani, and Kyle Schwarber.
The Chicago Cubs have three finalists for the NL Silver Slugger Award, including Nico Hoerner at second base, and both Pete Crow-Armstrong and Kyle Tucker in the outfield.
Last year, the Cubs only had one finalist for this award. It was Seiya Suzuki after his 21-home run season. However, Suzuki didn’t end up winning the National League Silver Slugger Award, as Jackson Merrill, Jurickson Profar, and Teoscar Hernandez won over him.
It is a bit surprising that Suzuki was not a finalist this season following a career year at the plate. The Japanese slugger hit .245 with 32 home runs, 103 RBI, and an OPS of .804. Those numbers were better than Crow-Armstrong (31 home runs with a .768 OPS) and better than Tucker (22 home runs with an .841 OPS).
It is possible that Suzuki was only eligible to be nominated at designated hitter, considering he only played 48 games in the outfield. Nevertheless, he arguably had better all-around numbers than Christian Yelich, who is a finalist. The Cubs slugger had more home runs, more RBI, more doubles, a higher slugging percentage, and a better OPS than Yelich in 2025.
Another surprising Cub left off the list is Michael Busch. Busch was an All-Star snub a few months ago, and now he’s an NL Silver Slugger Award finalist snub. The Cubs' first baseman ranked toward the top of the league in several offensive categories among all first basemen, yet he’s not considered for this award.
Busch had more home runs (34), a higher slugging percentage (.523), and a better OPS (.866) than Matt Olson, and had more home runs and a higher slugging percentage than Freddie Freeman. Olson and Freeman are finalists. Busch is not.
The Cubs are also a finalist for the team Silver Slugger Award, given to the best offensive team in both the National League and American League. The Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks are the other two teams listed as NL finalists.
Hoerner, Crow-Armstrong, and Tucker are looking to join an elite company in Cubs’ history to win a Silver Slugger Award. The last Cubs player to win this award was Cody Bellinger back in 2023.
The NL Silver Slugger Award winners will be announced on Thursday, November 6.