Cubs star center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong was the solid frontrunner for National League MVP honors even before his work on Saturday against the Reds. Then, in the course of the Cubs' 15-5 drubbing of Cincy, Crow-Armstrong did that work and wound up with a day to remember at Wrigley Field: All of that made Crow-Armstrong the first Cubs player to record at least four hits, three home runs, and six RBI in a game at Wrigley since George Mitterwald back in 1974. Crow-Armstrong came up in the eighth with a chance at four homers -- and with a position player on the mound for the Reds, to boot -- however, he grounded out to second on what Statcast classified as a 58.1 mph knuckleball from catcher Jose Trevino.
And here's a look at his third homer of the day: That's more bat-drop than bat-flip, but it's justifiably celebratory all the same. Coming into Saturday's contest, Crow-Armstrong already led the majors with a WAR of 7.9 -- a very impressive figure, especially since we're still in August -- and it's going to be even higher once Saturday's outputs are baked in. The 24-year-old fly-catcher is perhaps the best defensive center fielder in all of baseball, and he's also a major threat on the bases with 32 steals on the year, and he's hit into just a pair of double plays in 136 games.
Then, of course, there's the bat. Crow-Armstrong is now batting .282/.377/.567 with 36 home runs and much improved plate patience in the form of 71 walks. He's got a real shot at getting to 300 total bases for the season before September arrives.
All of those numbers have been buoyed by a sparkling month of August. As the CBS Sports research desk points out, Crow-Armstrong is just the fourth player in the last 50 years to have at least 12 homers, 25 RBI, and six steals in a single calendar month. The other three are Ryne Sandberg in 1990, Eric Davis in 1987, and Bobby Bonds in 1977.
Good company, that, and it speaks to PCA's broad-based offensive value. As for the MVP race, Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers has won the last two NL MVP awards, and he entered 2026 as the heavy favorite to take the senior circuit hardware for a third straight year. Although Ohtani has once again been a top-tier performer, he's taken a modest step back from his 2023-25 levels of plate production.
At the same time, Ohtani, because of a nagging knee problem, hasn't been on the mound since early July, and he has no clear timetable for his return to pitching. Ohtani was dominant as a pitcher prior to being sidelined on that front, but right now the pitching body of work just isn't there, at least not to the level to make up for PCA's advantage in total value. What happened on Saturday at Wrigley only widened that gap.
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