Pete Crow-Armstrong is the MVP Baseball Needs

The Cubs’ star outfielder is young, talented, brash, charismatic and occasionally controversial. Most importantly, he’s impossible to ignore.

Pete Crow-Armstrong is the classic example of a player you love to root for if he’s on your team, and root against as a rival. | Matt Dirksen/Getty Images

As third base coach Quintin Berry restrained him, the Cubs’ newest superstar screamed, “Are you f—ing serious, man?” in the direction of third base umpire Malachi Moore. The assembled crew had missed an obvious balk by Diamondbacks pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez that would have scored him from third and given Chicago a 1–0 lead in what was a scoreless game. As he continued to yell, manager Craig Counsell pointed at him and said, “Stop. Stop.” He didn’t. After the game, the 24-year-old outfielder would lament that umpires seem to “find new ways to screw something up every day.”

This is Pete Crow–Armstrong and he’s not particularly interested in hiding how he feels. That, as much as anything, is what makes him indispensable to Major League Baseball.

The outburst against the Diamondbacks was hardly an isolated incident. Crow-Armstrong argues with umpires, chirps at opposing fans and never bothers to conceal his emotions. He’s taken aim at Dodgers fans, insulted a heckler at a White Sox game and is open when he thinks umpires have botched a call. Some of those things have gotten him in hot water, and deservedly so, but it hasn’t done much to change him.

Crow-Armstrong isn’t one to spout clichés or useless platitudes. He speaks freely, celebrates loudly and is fully accessible. He’s not a corporate, packaged product terrified of making a mistake. And fans love him for it. 

A native of Sherman Oaks, Calif., Crow-Armstrong rapidly endeared himself to Cubs fans by fully embracing the city and everything that goes with playing for the franchise. He’s blasted Dodgers fans for their supposed lack of passion compared to the denizens of Wrigley Field. He sits in the stands for Bears games, hangs out with fellow budding Chicago superstar Caleb Williams and supports the city’s other teams. Along with Williams, he has rapidly become the centerpiece of the Chicago sports scene and it’s not hard to see why.

None of that would matter if Crow-Armstrong weren’t a phenomenal baseball player. 

PCA REACHES THE 30/30 MARK IN WALK-OFF FASHION. pic.twitter.com/1JvfTLDk02

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) August 18, 2026

In just his third full season, the man nicknamed PCA has become the National League’s most complete player, and may very well be its best hitter and fielder. He has already topped his breakout in 2025 by improving his numbers across the board. Through 139 games, he leads MLB in fWAR by nearly three full points (9.2) and bWAR by two (8.3). He tops the National League in slugging (.569), OPS (.943) and wRC+ (157), and is second in home runs (38). He has also notched his second consecutive 30–30 season and with 32 stolen bases under his belt could become the seventh member of the 40–40 club. An elite center fielder, Crow-Armstrong leads the NL in outs above average (23), one behind Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. for the major league lead. 

What makes those numbers even more remarkable is how Crow-Armstrong started the season. He badly struggled at the plate to open the campaign following a swoon late in 2025. After making some adjustments, he’s gone nuclear. The lefty’s OPS has topped 1.000 in each of the past three months. Since May 26, PCA is slashing .312/.408/.685, and leads MLB with 32 home runs and an astronomical 193 wRC+. He’s the engine of a Cubs offense that has carried the team into the NL’s second wild-card spot despite an uninspiring pitching staff.

Barring a catastrophic September, he’s almost certainly going to win the National League MVP award, denying Shohei Ohtani his fourth consecutive triumph in the process.

Baseball isn’t lacking elite talent. Ohtani is the most talented player to ever step on a big league field. What the sport lacks are superstars who feel like real people. Crow-Armstrong isn’t better than Ohtani, but he’s interesting in a completely different way. 

Crow-Armstrong has a close relationship with the Wrigley Field bleacher creatures. | Geoff Stellfox/Getty Images

Ohtani can dominate both at the plate and on the mound like no one ever has. But the 32-year-old is intensely private and rarely lets the public see much of his personality, on or off the field. He feels like a monk who just so happens to be the greatest baseball player on the planet. He’s not out among the fans, interacting with the world. Crow-Armstrong feels like the trash-talking, way-too-loud guy you knew in high school who happened to make it big. He’s real, warts and all. He’s intensely human. That’s what makes him fascinating.

Crow-Armstrong is also the guy you love when he’s on your team and hate when he’s not. To Cubs fans, his childlike exuberance and fiery intensity are endearing. To opposing fans, he’s baseball’s Scut Farkus, a bully who won’t shut up. Both those versions of him are impossible to ignore.

He grew up in the L.A. area, the son of actors Matthew John Armstrong, a Chicago native, and Ashley Crow. They weren’t stars, but working actors. According to Crow-Armstrong, his family lived off standard acting paychecks and modest residual checks, not Hollywood millions. PCA attended the prestigious Harvard-Westlake School in Studio City, the alma mater of fellow big leaguers Jack Flaherty, Max Fried and Lucas Giolito. He became L.A.’s high school player of the year as a junior and the Mets made him the 19th pick in the draft in 2020. 

When he was selected, the book on Crow-Armstrong was that defense and speed were his calling cards. Some believed there was a chance he’d develop power, but his swing didn’t have much juice at the time. He was shipped to the Cubs as part of the Javier Báez deal at the 2021 trade deadline and carried that label with him. Crow-Armstrong hit just 10 total home runs in the first two seasons (136 gaems) of his MLB career, and many wondered if much power would ever come. That question has been emphatically answered, as he’s blasted 69 home runs over the past two seasons. 

Though Crow-Armstrong grew up in Los Angeles, Chicago has quickly become his home. 

In a preseason profile for Chicago magazine, Crow-Armstrong stirred up some controversy by comparing Cubs fans to their counterparts in L.A. He praised the Dodgers’ players but took aim at the team’s fans. “I love Chicago more and more. The people are great. They give a s---. They aren't just baseball fans who go to the game like Dodgers fans to take pictures and whatever,” he said. “They're paying attention. They care.”

That quote caused a stir, as Dodgers fans blasted his comments. PCA was given a chance to back down during an appearance on Foul Territory. It won’t shock you to hear he didn’t. Instead, he doubled down.

“I grew up going to Dodgers games when they weren’t always good. When they had Mannywood pop up. But it’s like they go in phases. I remember ... putting the Giants fan in the coma. That stuck with me as a kid,” he said. “Just little things. Sitting in the stands, just nasty stuff goes on. I didn’t always experience that at other ballparks.”

Put a microphone in front of a guy who speaks his mind, and that’s what you’re going to get. 

Crow-Armstrong could become the seventh member of the 40-40 club. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

During a May matchup with the White Sox, Crow-Armstrong got into it with a heckler after he failed to make a catch at the wall in right center field. He slammed into the fence and wound up on the dirt of the warning track before showing frustration with himself for not making the grab. As he remained on the field, a woman said, “You suck,” and PCA exploded in response, launching a string of expletives that crossed the line. It was an ugly incident, but he didn’t back down from it after the game. When asked what happened, he said, “Some lady decided to start talking s–t and I felt the need to say it back.”

A few days later, Crow-Armstrong said he regretted his choice of words. 

It was an ugly moment and a black mark on his reputation. But that’s also the risk that comes with Crow-Armstrong. He’s not always going to say the right thing or react perfectly. Sometimes his intensity is going to get him in trouble. 

Crow-Armstrong isn’t always going to be likable. That’s part of the appeal. Not every star has to be universally beloved. His ability to inspire a reaction is just as valuable to the sport as his on-field greatness. Baseball has rarely marketed its stars well, and some of the biggest names, from Mike Trout to Ohtani, have been reluctant to reveal much of themselves publicly. Crow-Armstrong has no such reservations. Fans need players who inspire them, and players they desperately want to see fall short. Indifference is poison to professional sports. It's impossible to be indifferent about Crow-Armstrong. 

What makes the Cubs’ superstar different is that his bold, brash personality comes attached to one of the best players in the world. His talent makes him great. His personality makes him a star. 

And he’s exactly what baseball needs right now. 

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