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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 24: Dansby Swanson #7 and Pete Crow-Armstrong #4 of the Chicago Cubs celebrate Swanson's two-run home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the ninth inning at Dodger Stadium on April 24, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images)

Dansby Swanson knows what it takes to be an MLB All-Star in back-to-back-years.

The 32-year-old shortstop accomplished the feat during the 2022 and 2023 seasons, first as a member of the Atlanta Braves and then during his debut season with the Chicago Cubs. He also won back-to-back Gold Glove campaigns in those seasons after hitting for a career-high 25 home runs and 96 RBIs with a .277 batting average during the 2022 season.

Fast forward a few years later and Pete Crow-Armstrong is one of the top young players in the MLB. The budding young face of the Cubs franchise clinched his first All-Star appearance last year after helping lead Chicago to the top of the NL Central at the All-Star break while ending up with 31 home runs, 95 RBIs and 35 stolen bases. He became the second player in Cubs history — after Sammy Sosa — to clinch a 30-30 season (30 home runs, 30 stolen bases).

Crow-Armstrong is having another strong season, with 16 home runs and 40 RBIs leading into the Cubs’ series agains the New York Mets. His bWAR and fWAR of 4.6 lead all position players, while he leads all NL outfielders in Outs Above Average (15) and Fielding Run Value (16). However, there are 34 players in the NL with more votes than Crow-Armstrong and he ranks 14th among outfielders.

When asked why his star teammate is being snubbed for the 2026 MLB All-Star Game, Swanson didn’t have a concrete answer, but said it may be due to the flaw in MLB All-Star Voting System.

Dansby Swanson On Pete Crow-Armstrong’s Snub Potentially Due To Flaw in MLB All-Star Voting

“There’s definitely a little bit of a flaw to our All-Star voting system,” said Swanson in a one-on-one interview with Heavy Sports. “Just because it’s really the first 70-80 game All-Star race, it’s not getting the guys who are playing the best, and I think because he’s been on such a tear the last couple weeks, there’s been so much voting that’s already happened — which I think is a little unfair to certain guys.

“I couldn’t tell you why he’s not getting a lot of attention,” Swanson continued. “He’s a great player, he’s got a lot of special ability, just physically. What he’s able to do is pretty special. I couldn’t give you a real answer on why he doesn’t get more attention to it, but he’s one of the best hitters I’ve ever seen. When he gets rolling offensively, it’s pretty fun to watch.”

Crow-Armstrong recently hit for the cycle, and is up to a .286/.363/.521 slash line entering the Cubs’ series against the Mets. He recently earned NL Player of the Week honors for his hot play as of late.

Swanson’s assessment definitely makes sense in that a lot of the voting took place before Crow-Armtrong’s hot play in June took place. We’ll see if the voting — which ends on July 2 — will turn around in Crow-Armstrong’s favor.

Dansby Swanson Teams Up With Buffalo Wild Wings During 2026 World Cup

With the 2026 World Cup taking place and the United States as a host country, Swanson is teaming up with Buffalo Wild Wings and Pepsi — along with his soccer star wife Mallory Swanson — for a new social content campaign that highlights the tournament, bringing their competitive spirit, match day rituals and Team USA fandom to life.

“It kind of organically came up now and we’re obviously a big sports family, not only in career but just interests as well,” said Swanson. “We like watching the sports, always kind of have it on, and when you like good food and you like sports and you like community, all three matches up for Buffalo Wild Wings, and so it just made sense for our lives. Obviously the deal with the pick six meal two stuff right now, it made it even better. Shout out date night, Buffalo Wild Wings, being able to eat some wings to watch some sports, so it made all sense in the world.”

When asked how far he believes Team USA — which has advanced to the Round of 32 — will go in this tournament, he said a lot hinges on matchups, but he said this team has the most potential to advance deep of any in program history.

“I don’t know, I feel like so much of that gets based on matchups too,” said Swanon. “When you get to the knockout round, I feel like I’ve seen some projections of what it could be for other countries. That’s a tough round of 32 games. Those are like two pretty big name countries playing against each other, but they’ve obviously put themselves in a good position. If they make it to the quarterfinals, that’d be amazing. It’s all a matchup thing, a health thing, but they’ve looked really good.

“I don’t know the ins and outs of soccer,” Swanson continued. “I understand it, I started to pick up on some of the more intricate things a little bit more, but they seem to have found stylistically what can work for them in this kind of setting, and so hopefully they can just keep exposing people while doing it. If Christian (Pulisic) is healthy, that obviously helps, but they seem to have bought into what they’re trying to do, and with talent, and a home crowd behind you, literally you never know what can happen.”