Cubs star Pete Crow-Armstrong furthers his MVP case with first-career 3-home run day
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ESPN Chicago's Jesse Rogers joins Fox Chicago's Cassie Carlson and Sam Panayotovich as both the White Sox and Cubs hit a day off before crucial weekend series. The crew breaks down Tristan Peters' historic 5-game home run streak, Miguel Vargas’ steady MVP-level play, fixing Colson Montgomery’s mental slump, and Hagen Smith’s October bullpen potential. Plus, Jesse reacts to the Cubs' missed balk controversy in Arizona and gives updates on Justin Steele and Shelby Miller.
Chicago Cubs star Pete Crow-Armstrong is adding to his case for the NL MVP award.
Crow-Armstrong homered three times on Saturday against the Cincinnati Reds. The All-Star center fielder also singled and scored in the fourth.
Crow-Armstrong is making a bid to unseat Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani as NL MVP after the Japanese slugger took home the honor each of the previous two years. While Ohtani has been limited to designated hitter with Los Angeles, Crow-Armstrong is one of baseball's top defensive players. And he has turned into a consistent threat at the plate as well.
The 24-year-old Crow-Armstrong hit a 435-foot drive to right-center in the first for his eighth career leadoff homer — all this season. He went deep again in the second, sending a two-run shot off the foul pole in right for his 35th homer.
It was Crow-Armstrong's fifth multihomer game of the season and No. 11 for his career.
Crow-Armstrong got each of his first three hits off left-hander Andrew Abbott. He was batting .303 with nine homers and 31 RBIs this season against lefties coming into the day. He hit just .188 with seven homers and 27 RBIs against lefties in 2025.
Batting with runners on first and second in the seventh, Crow-Armstrong hit a 444-foot drive to center off right-hander Tony Santillan. The Wrigley Field crowd of 39,597 chanted "M-V-P! M-V-P!" as Crow-Armstrong rounded the bases.
It was Crow-Armstrong's first career three-homer game.
The other side:
Othani, Crow-Armstrong's top NL MVP competition, was expected to win his third-straight NL MVP after recording a sub-2.00 ERA with the Dodgers this season. However, Ohtani hasn’t been able to pitch since July 3 because of left knee soreness and a right biceps injury.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani won't start tomorrow's game, nor will he start on Tuesday. Roberts told reporters Saturday that the Dodgers have not made a decision on whether to shut Ohtani down as a pitcher, and the team will wait until the team gets back to Los Angeles.
"If any pitcher was feeling like this, we wouldn’t run him out there," Roberts told reporters on Saturday.
The Source: Story and reporting from the Associated Press.