Chicago Cubs franchise shortstop Dansby Swanson might not even be the best athlete in his family.

This is because his wife is Mallory Swanson (maiden name Mallory Pugh), is one of the best female soccer players in the world and a member of Team USA’s women’s national soccer team (USWNT). Pugh, who also plays as a forward for the Chicago Stars FC, became the USWNT’s youngest player since 2002 when she debuted in 2016, despite being just 17 years old.

She went on to be a part of Team USA’s squad at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where she became the youngest player to score a goal in United States Olympic soccer history. She was also a key component of the USWNT winning the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup and securing gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where she scored the only goal in the Olympic final.

However, Swanson has been sidelined from the soccer field for most of 2025 because she and Dansby announced that they were pregnant in May in an Instagram post that was captioned, “Our greatest blessing 🤍”.

Dansby, Mallory Swanson Announce Birth of Daughter

Ever since this pregnancy announcement was made, fans were eager to find out when the Swansons were expecting. And Cubs fans were quick to notice how much Mallory was showing during the team’s 2025 MLB postseason run, suggesting that the baby was likely on the way before 2025 ended.

And these suspicions were confirmed on November 14, when Mallory and Dansby made an Instagram post showing them holding a newborn baby’s hand with the caption, “Josie James Swanson 💕 we love you more than you’ll ever know babygirl”.

The top comment on the post is from Dansby, who wrote, “God is good. I love you MOM and Josie girl ❤️”.

Swanson signed a seven-year, $177 million extension with the Cubs back in December 2022. Through three seasons, the jury is still out on whether he has lived up to that contract, which is the second-biggest contract the Cubs have ever given a single player (only $7 million behind the $184 million that Jason Heyward got in December 2015).

Swanson has been a below-average hitter in each of the past three seasons, but has remained one of baseball’s best defenders and baserunners. Regardless, that isn’t going to take away from fans being excited for Dansby and Mallory about welcoming a daughter into their life.

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