PCA adds 2 more blasts to season Cubs fans will 'tell their grandkids about'

CHICAGO – Pete Crow-Armstrong has joked in the past that he has not put up the best numbers when the Wrigley Field crowd unites in chanting his initials. That perceived trend has not continued with the new chants that roar through the Friendly Confines these days.

When Crow-Armstrong was in the batter’s box in the seventh inning Wednesday night, the calls of “M-V-P! M-V-P!” were already gathering steam. A few seconds later, as the Cubs’ star center fielder rounded the bases after his second home run of the evening, the repetitive cries had become deafening.

“When he hit the second homer, Alex Bregman was standing next to me,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “I said, ‘Alex, we don’t get to see things like this.’ You spend your whole life in baseball and you just don’t see this happen on a baseball field. You’re grateful to be a part of it.”

In an 8-4 victory over the Braves, Crow-Armstrong continued his assault on the Cubs’ record book and further padded his case to take home the National League’s Most Valuable Player trophy after this incredible campaign. He had a familiar sidekick in Bregman, who finished a single short of the cycle to also help back a quality start from Shota Imanaga.

With the win, the Cubs maintained their half-game lead over the Phillies for the NL’s top Wild Card spot. That said, Chicago owns the tiebreaker over Philadelphia by winning the season series, taking six of seven games against the Phillies in April.

Crow-Armstrong’s two home runs gave him 44 on the year, pushing him past Cubs icon and Hall of Famer Billy Williams for the most by a left-handed hitter in team history. Williams launched 42 in 1970. Crow-Armstrong added an RBI triple, giving him 81 extra-base hits on the season. That also topped Williams’ single-season club record in that category (80 in 1970) for a lefty batter.

With its often-unforgiving wind, Wrigley has famously been hard on lefty batters throughout its history. Crow-Armstrong has defied the elements and is up to 27 homers at home this year. Once again, only Williams is ahead of him with the 28 he clubbed during that '70 season.

“I definitely have lost my fair share of homers here,” Crow-Armstrong said. “I feel like it’s playing pretty friendly this year. It’s been pretty kind to us.”

Per MLB.com’s Sarah Langs, this marked the 10th time in Crow-Armstrong’s career that he has collected at least 10 total bases in a game. That is now three more such games than any other player before turning 25 years old, dating back to at least 1900. Only Williams and Sammy Sosa (12 apiece) have more in a Cubs career.

Crow-Armstrong has also tied Nelson Cruz (six in 2019) for the most games with at least 10 total bases in a single season in MLB history, since at least 1900.

“It's been an unbelievable year,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “It's amazing how far that kid has come in the last year or two. Really impressive. He hit about every pitch that we threw at him tonight. Offspeed stuff. High fastball. Yeah, he's pretty locked in.”

Entering play on Wednesday, Crow-Armstrong (4.0) and Bregman (3.1) ranked first and third in the Majors, respectively, during the second half in wins above replacement, per FanGraphs. They have been arguably the top one-two punch in baseball for the past few months and were at it again in the win over the Braves, who are trying to secure the NL East title.

Bregman got the Cubs’ lineup rolling with an RBI double off JR Ritchie in the first inning. Crow-Armstrong then launched his 43rd homer of the season in the third. Bregman followed suit with a leadoff homer (his 26th blast of the year) in the fourth against Ritchie. In the fifth, both Crow-Armstrong and Bregman delivered run-scoring triples to help Chicago pull away.

In the seventh, Bregman flew out to center with a cycle on the line.

“I tried to hit a single, as opposed to trying to do what I was doing,” Bregman said with a smirk. “It’s stupid. I should’ve just kept trying to hit a homer. It was fun. I was laughing with the guys. I don’t know how many chances I’ll have at a cycle, because that triple’s hard when you’re this slow.”

As for Crow-Armstrong?

“Pete’s on cycle watch when he wakes up in the morning,” Bregman quipped.

After Thursday’s off-day, Crow-Armstrong will continue his pursuit of 40 stolen bases, which would give him the seventh 40-40 season in MLB history. He is sitting on 37 steals. Crow-Armstrong is also up to 10.4 WAR with an increasingly historic gap ahead of the rest of the field.

“You’re grateful to see things like this,” Counsell said. “And you’re grateful that the fans get to see a season like this, because they're going to talk about it. They're going to tell their kids about it. They're going to tell their grandkids about seasons like this.”