The Cubs didn't wait long to make a statement. Crow-Armstrong led off the game with a home run, and Barstool Baseball was already calling him "MVPete" before the ball landed.
MVPete
That would've been a fine day on its own. Instead it was just the opener. A few innings later, Crow-Armstrong went deep again, and Barstool Chicago tracked the whole thing live as the score swung from 4-2 to 6-2 in real time.
2 HOMERS IN 2 INNINGS FOR MVPETE
This isn't a one-off for Crow-Armstrong. The 24-year-old center fielder is having a breakout follow-up to a 2025 season that earned him an All-Star nod, a Gold Glove and an All-MLB Second Team selection, and he's carried that into 2026 with 33 home runs and 83 RBIs on the year, good for top-10 in both categories leaguewide entering the day.
The two-homer, two-inning burst is exactly the kind of moment that's built his reputation this season — a guy who was drafted and developed for his glove and speed now punishing pitchers with legitimate thump. Reds starter Andrew Abbott caught the brunt of it, and Cincinnati never really recovered from the early damage.
For a Cubs team trying to hold serve in a crowded NL race, getting this version of Crow-Armstrong — power to go with the elite defense and legs — is the difference between a good lineup and a scary one. Wrigley was locked in, and for a few innings on a Saturday, nobody in that building was thinking about anything else.