Inside The Cubs

Pete Crow-Armstrong Names Teammate 'Best Player' After NLDS Win vs Brewers

Chicago Cubs slugger Pete Crow-Armstrong took a strong stance after his team's NLDS win over the Brewers.
Grant Young|
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The Chicago Cubs secured a pivotal 4-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 3 of their NLDS series on October 8, which means that the Cubs' season is still going for at least one more day.

The Cubs did all the damage they needed in the first inning, as they scored all four runs in that frame. Things started with a solo blast from lead-off man Michael Busch to right-center field.

This made the 27-year-old superstar the first player to hit multiple leadoff home runs in the same series in a single postseason, something no other MLB player has ever done. It was also the fourth leadoff home run in Cubs postseason history, with the third coming from Busch in Game 1 of this series.

Busch has been a rally-starter for Chicago all season long, and this consistency has been a key component to his club making it this deep into the postseason. In fact, it's hard to imagine the Cubs would have made it to the NLDS in the first place if not for Busch's contributions.

Pete Crow-Armstrong Gives Michael Busch His Flowers After Cubs NLDS Win

The first few months of the season were all about Pete Crow-Armstrong and Kyle Tucker for the Cubs, as these two guys were both playing at an MVP-caliber level. However, both cooled off considerably after the All-Star break, and Chicago was carried largely by Busch, Ian Happ, and Nico Hoerner in the regular season's second half.

Chicago Cubs first baseman Michael Busch (29) rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run on October 8, 2025
Chicago Cubs first baseman Michael Busch (29) rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run during the first inning of their National League Division Series game against the Milwaukee Brewers Wednesday, October 8, 2025 at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. | Mark Hoffman / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Crow-Armstrong made a strong claim when speaking about Busch to Marquee Sports Network after Wednesday's big win.

"Pure joy," PCA said when asked what his reaction to Busch's first-inning home run was, per an X post from Marquee Sports Network. "I think I shared the reaction with the rest of the stadium. I mean, he hit that ball so hard, but he hit it so high, so I didn't know if it was gonna get out.

"Leave it to Michael Busch to get it going for us. He has just done such a good job of that all year. He has been our best player all year," Crow-Armstrong continued. "So I'm following whatever he decides to lead us by."

This is extremely high praise from PCA. However, Busch's team-high .866 OPS would back up PCA's claim about him being their best player this season.

But Chicago will need more than just Busch to contribute if they're to upset Milwaukee over the next two games and advance to the NLCS.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young is a Staff Writer for On SI’s Chicago Cubs, New York Mets, Boxing, Indiana Fever, and Women’s Fastbreak sites. Before joining SI in 2024, he wrote for various boxing and sports verticals such as FanBuzz and NY Fights. Young has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s degree in creative writing with an emphasis on sports nonfiction from the University of San Francisco, where he played five seasons of Division 1 baseball. He fought Muay Thai professionally in Thailand in 2023, loves a good essay, and is driven crazy trying to handle a pitpull puppy named Aura. Young lives in San Diego and was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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