On August 5th at Wrigley Field in Chicago, four-time MVP Shohei Ohtani led off the game for the Dodgers with a home run to right field. A few minutes later, in the bottom half of the first inning, 2026 MVP hopeful Pete Crow-Armstrong did the same. It was each of their 25th homers on the year. Shohei’s dinger accounted for his 68th RBI, while PCA’s was his 66th.
In the fourth inning, Crow-Armstrong edged ahead of the Japanese star, hitting his 26th home run off the scoreboard in right for a two-run shot. Four innings later, Ohtani matched the youngster, smashing one out to left for his 26th. Both players went 3-for-5 of the day with two runs scored, with PCA knocking in four with ten total bases against Ohtani’s three and nine. When they walked off the field, the players were tied in homers, and Ohtani led the RBI race 70-69. Not that it matters, but PCA hit his dingers a total of 825 feet, while Shohei’s went a pedestrian 743.
On August 17th, Ohtani went to Colorado and smacked two more homers (#28 and #29). Later that night, PCA hit two of his own (#29 and #30). With his second home run (more about below), Crow-Armstrong sealed his second consecutive 30/30 season (Ohtani has only nine stolen bases this year).
The next say Shohei joined PCA in the 30-homer club. But PCA was not to be out done, so he hit his 31st that day. As of this writing, Shohei is still at 30 HRs, while Pete is up to 36.
But PCA is not just competing with Shohei Ohtani. He also currently finds himself with a battle against history and Randy Arozarena of the Seattle Mariners.
In that August 17th game referenced above, Crow-Armstrong hit a home run on the first pitch of the bottom of the first. And then he hit the last pitch of the game – a 2-1 slider from Carson Kelly – into those same bleachers for a walk-off. It was the first time a player had accomplished that feat since Vic Power in 1957. But five days later, the Mariners’ outfielder held serve – against the Cubs, natch.
In the bottom of the first inning, Arozarena hit the first offering from David Peterson 416-feet over PCA’s head into the stands in center field. And then, in the bottom of the ninth, with Seattle trailing by two and with two runners on, Arozarena smacked a Jacob Webb slider again over Crow-Armstrong’s head for the walk-off home run. This had not happened once in nearly seventy years, and then it happened twice in a week. Not for nothing, but Arozarena also robbed a home run off the bat of Miguel Amaya in the third inning (PCA didn’t rob any homers in any of the aforementioned games, just sayin’).
But wait, there’s more. After PCA hit “Bookend Bombs” (as so named in Episode 2522 of the Effectively Wild podcast), he then hit a home run to lead off the next game. Arozarena saw that and said, “hold my beer.” The Seattle slugger hit his “Bookend Bombs” and then led off the next game with a dinger as well. Funnily enough, Arozarena’s home run represented one of the two runs that the Mariners scored in their 19-2 drubbing by PCA’s Cubs that day, a game in which — stop me if you have heard this before — Crow-Armstrong homered as well.
Earlier this season, Dansby Swanson became the first Cub to hit five home runs over a two-game span. With two round-trippers on Sunday night, PCA matched his teammate with five of his own over the weekend.
Crow-Armstrong may win the MVP this year, or he may not. But there is no doubt that what he is doing on the field, and the battles he is involved in seemingly every day (including with fans on Chicago’s South Side, but that is a topic for another day), are quite entertaining. And, when it is all said and done, isn’t that what this is all about?
PLAY BALL!!