Cardinals-Cubs turned into a straight-up power display, and it started with Burleson doing what he's done to opposing pitching all summer. He got a hold of one and sent it out at 105.8 mph off the bat, a 33-degree missile that carried 421 ft.
Alec Burleson rounds the bases at Wrigley after a 421-ft blast, exit velo 105.8 mph.
Burleson's been in this kind of form for weeks now. Earlier this month he put up a three-homer game against the Yankees, one of them a second-deck shot, in a 13-7 Cardinals win. He's not a household name outside St. Louis, but pitchers around the league are starting to treat him like one.
Cubs answered right back, and the answer had a name attached: Pete Crow-Armstrong. He took a Cardinals reliever deep at 110.3 mph, sending a 408-ft shot into the Wrigley bleachers where a fan came up with the ball while STL's arm just watched it leave. The scoreboard flipped to 3-0 Cardinals at the time, so it was Chicago clawing back into a game the Cards had jumped out to early.
Pete Crow-Armstrong crushes a 408-ft homer as the Cardinals pitcher walks off the mound and a fan snags the ball in the seats.
That swing is the latest entry in what's become a legitimate NL MVP push. Crow-Armstrong is sitting at 27 home runs, 73 RBIs and 30 stolen bases through 121 games this year, with a 156 OPS+ and an MLB-high 7.5 WAR. Shohei Ohtani's still the favorite, but Ohtani hasn't pitched since July 3, and every night like this one chips away at that gap.
It's the kind of afternoon that had fans reaching for the nickname early. "MVPETE" made the rounds on social as Cubs fans celebrated another Crow-Armstrong homer, the kind of tag that only sticks when the numbers back it up — and right now, they do.
Whether Burleson and the Cardinals had the last word or Crow-Armstrong's Cubs walked away with it, the slugfest at Wrigley was a reminder that both of these lineups can take a game over in a hurry. For St. Louis it's another data point on a breakout year from Burleson; for Chicago, it's one more reason MVP ballots might not be a two-horse race between now and October.