Pete Crow-Armstrong put together the kind of Saturday that forces everyone to look twice at the NL MVP race.
The Cubs center fielder went 4-for-6 and launched three home runs in Chicago’s 17-5 win over the Reds at Wrigley Field, a performance that pushed his season totals to 36 homers, 89 RBIs and 296 total bases. He now owns the fourth-most home runs in MLB, the seventh-most RBIs and the most total bases in the sport. Per Just Baseball, he also has the franchise’s highest fielding wins above replacement since Sammy Sosa.
That kind of production is why Crow-Armstrong is suddenly in the thick of the conversation with Shohei Ohtani, and Saturday brought a twist that could matter down the stretch.
While the Cubs were rolling, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts announced that Ohtani’s scheduled return to the mound on Sunday had been postponed, according to Bob Nightengale. “If any pitcher was feeling like this, we wouldn’t run him out there,” Roberts said, according to ESPN baseball reporter Alden Gonzalez.
Crow-Armstrong wasted no time setting the tone against Reds starter Andrew Abbott. As Chicago’s leadoff hitter, he jumped on the second pitch he saw and drove it 435 feet to right-center for a quick 1-0 lead. In the next inning, with the Cubs already ahead 4-2, he turned on another one and sent it down the right-field line for his 35th homer of the year, stretching the margin to 6-2 and accounting for half of Chicago’s runs at that point.
He finished the barrage with a 444-foot blast to center, a no-doubter that came with a big bat flip and pushed the Cubs further out in front. By the end of the afternoon, Crow-Armstrong had delivered 3 HR, 4 R and 4 hits in the blowout win.
The numbers in the MVP race are tight enough to make this a real fight. Crow-Armstrong is hitting .282 with 36 home runs, 89 RBIs, an .944 OPS and a .377 OBP. Ohtani is right there offensively at .283 with 30 home runs, 80 RBIs, a .918 OPS and a .383 OBP.
The difference, as always with Ohtani, is what he brings on the mound. In 2026, he has 85.2 innings pitched, an 8-2 record, a 1.79 ERA, 136 strikeouts and a 0.95 WHIP.
Chicago’s last MVP winner was Kris Bryant in 2016. That season, Bryant hit .292 with 39 home runs, 102 RBIs and 121 runs, and became the sixth player in MLB history to win Rookie of the Year and MVP within his first two major league seasons.
Crow-Armstrong is now trying to join that company, and his latest outburst gave his case a major boost.
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