CHICAGO — More than four hours before an elimination game at Wrigley Field, Pete Crow-Armstrong went through the stages of his hitting routine. The Chicago Cubs had not yet taken the field for traditional batting practice. Nor had the ballpark gates opened for the crowd of 41,770 that would chant “Fred-dy, Fred-dy,” taunting Milwaukee Brewers ace Freddy Peralta in unison.
Hyperactive by nature, Crow-Armstrong used this quiet, slow-paced setting to mentally prepare, work on his craft and maintain some balance.
The Cubs held these sessions throughout the season, usually on the first day of every road trip and once or twice during each homestand. Other hitters occasionally dropped in, but the core group included Crow-Armstrong, first baseman Michael Busch and Justin Turner, who at the age of 40 had already seen nearly every type of playoff situation they would encounter.
That sense of routine is paramount. It anchors a player in October, when the emotions are heightened and the fans are buzzing. Doing flip drills and seeing breaking balls and fastballs off the pitching machine helped normalize the biggest games of the year. On this crisp fall afternoon, Crow-Armstrong wore gray sweatpants and a blue ski cap.
“It’s all a great learning experience,” Cubs hitting coach Dustin Kelly said. “It sets the standard of, ‘This is what we expect every year: to be playing baseball at this time of year.’”
The scene left an impression, as the Cubs began their offseason trying to level up a 92-win team that lost to the Brewers in the National League Division Series, a draining experience that would have left them with little chance to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in a best-of-seven matchup.
During his end-of-season briefing with the Chicago media, Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer raved about Craig Counsell’s coaching staff and a connected group of dedicated players while also stressing the importance of continuing to develop young talent.
Those plans to become a perennial contender revolve around Crow-Armstrong, the dynamic center fielder who produced at an MVP level in the first half of a breakthrough season and posted a .634 OPS after the All-Star break.
Speaking broadly about the state of the organization, Hoyer said, “My hope and expectation is that we’ll have extension talks with a number of our players this offseason.” Crow-Armstrong, though, figures to be the top priority.
Only one player weighed a long-term contract offer around Opening Day in Japan, then produced a season that captured the imagination of Cubs fans while generating roughly $43 million in surplus value, according to the dollars metric calculated by FanGraphs.
“We have a number of players that we’d love to keep long-term,” Hoyer said, “and we’ll have those conversations.”
The Cubs can (and probably should) engage multiple players this winter, trying to expand their nucleus. At the moment, Gold Glove shortstop Dansby Swanson is the organization’s only player on a fully guaranteed contract for 2027. Crow-Armstrong is under club control through 2030.
Even taking Crow-Armstrong’s second-half slump into account, he still brings an exceptional skill set as well as an exciting style of play, which all fuels the Wrigleyville machine.
In the club’s 150th NL season, Crow-Armstrong became the first player in franchise history to reach the 30/30/30 level with 31 home runs, 35 stolen bases and 37 doubles.
“In totality, he had a great year,” Hoyer said. “This was his first full season, and that’s something I talked to Pete a lot about during the course of the year. This is the first time he’s gone through the entire season. He obviously plays really hard. He’s kind of the backbone of our defense. There could have been some fatigue there that set in.
“Going forward, he’s going to have to shrink his strike zone. He’s going to have to focus on those things. I think he will. He’s still 23 years old. He’s still learning, so I expect him to keep getting better and better. It may be gradual. It may come all at once. But I have no question that he’ll continue to get better.
“The one thing with Pete that I always focus on is when he’s not hitting or struggling offensively, he’s a great player. And when he’s hitting, he’s a superstar. Because what he does defensively, night in, night out, is unbelievable. I think he’s the best defensive player in baseball.”
Pete Crow-Armstrong brings an exceptional skill set and an exciting style of play. (Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
During the playoffs, Crow-Armstrong went 5-for-27 with 12 strikeouts, but he still delivered some clutch moments. Three of those hits came during the victory that eliminated the San Diego Padres from the wild-card round. His two-out, two-run single knocked out Brewers starter Quinn Priester early, allowing the Cubs to take control of another elimination game.
By that point in the year, Chicago’s hitting coaches were not making major adjustments to Crow-Armstrong’s big left-handed swing. Rather, the Cubs focused on preparation and intent, understanding that the opponent would try to line up the worst matchup possible for each hitter every time.
That’s not the time to be worrying about hand placement or leg movements. It’s recognizing the situation, competing with confidence and picking up information when you repeatedly see the same hard-throwing pitchers during a short series.
“The mechanics are the mechanics,” Kelly said. “They don’t change all that much. There’s minor little things here and there that we monitor. But so much of it is about the approach and game-planning and how guys are attacking you: What are they going to try and take advantage of?
“That’s usually a fastball up or the chase down. You can see a pattern. Then it’s up to us to recognize that pattern and make them aware of it. It’s still really hard.”
The playoff format has changed so much over the years that all of these numbers are skewed. But before his 24th birthday, Crow-Armstrong already experienced more postseason victories in a Cubs uniform (four) than Ryne Sandberg did during his entire 16-year career in Chicago (three).
The other Hall of Famers along the row of statues outside Wrigley Field — Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Ron Santo and Fergie Jenkins — combined to play 59 seasons for the franchise and never once competed in the playoffs as a Cub.
Crow-Armstrong is not yet on their level. It’s more of a reminder that these opportunities come around only so often. Experience in October matters, and the Cubs hope it will pay dividends in the future.
“I’ve learned that you need everybody to find success in a little bit tighter of a time window,” Crow-Armstrong said. “There’s less room for error.
“The beautiful part about our game is we play all year and have so much time to work on things. And that never really stops. But (Swanson) said it best during our San Diego series: It doesn’t really matter how you get it done. Getting the job done is the only thing that matters in the playoffs.
“Just being able to stay in the fight is probably the most eye-opening thing.”