{"id":245934,"date":"2025-10-23T11:23:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T11:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/245934\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T11:23:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T11:23:08","slug":"whats-next-for-the-cubs-and-pete-crow-armstrong-after-a-season-that-raised-expectations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/245934\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s next for the Cubs and Pete Crow-Armstrong after a season that raised expectations?"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO \u2014 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 \u201cFred-dy, Fred-dy,\u201d taunting Milwaukee Brewers ace Freddy Peralta in unison.<\/p>\n

Hyperactive by nature, Crow-Armstrong used this quiet, slow-paced setting to mentally prepare, work on his craft and maintain some balance.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all a great learning experience,\u201d Cubs hitting coach Dustin Kelly said. \u201cIt sets the standard of, \u2018This is what we expect every year: to be playing baseball at this time of year.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

During his end-of-season briefing with the Chicago media, Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer raved about Craig Counsell\u2019s coaching staff and a connected group of dedicated players while also stressing the importance of continuing to develop young talent.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Speaking broadly about the state of the organization, Hoyer said, \u201cMy hope and expectation is that we\u2019ll have extension talks with a number of our players this offseason.\u201d Crow-Armstrong, though, figures to be the top priority.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a number of players that we\u2019d love to keep long-term,\u201d Hoyer said, \u201cand we\u2019ll have those conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s only player on a fully guaranteed contract for 2027. Crow-Armstrong is under club control through 2030.<\/p>\n

Even taking Crow-Armstrong\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

In the club\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn totality, he had a great year,\u201d Hoyer said. \u201cThis was his first full season, and that\u2019s something I talked to Pete a lot about during the course of the year. This is the first time he\u2019s gone through the entire season. He obviously plays really hard. He\u2019s kind of the backbone of our defense. There could have been some fatigue there that set in.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing forward, he\u2019s going to have to shrink his strike zone. He\u2019s going to have to focus on those things. I think he will. He\u2019s still 23 years old. He\u2019s 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\u2019ll continue to get better.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one thing with Pete that I always focus on is when he\u2019s not hitting or struggling offensively, he\u2019s a great player. And when he\u2019s hitting, he\u2019s a superstar. Because what he does defensively, night in, night out, is unbelievable. I think he\u2019s the best defensive player in baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n Pete Crow-Armstrong brings an exceptional skill set and an exciting style of play. (Michael Reaves \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

By that point in the year, Chicago\u2019s hitting coaches were not making major adjustments to Crow-Armstrong\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not the time to be worrying about hand placement or leg movements. It\u2019s recognizing the situation, competing with confidence and picking up information when you repeatedly see the same hard-throwing pitchers during a short series.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mechanics are the mechanics,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cThey don\u2019t change all that much. There\u2019s 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?<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s usually a fastball up or the chase down. You can see a pattern. Then it\u2019s up to us to recognize that pattern and make them aware of it. It\u2019s still really hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

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).<\/p>\n

The other Hall of Famers along the row of statues outside Wrigley Field \u2014 Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Ron Santo and Fergie Jenkins \u2014 combined to play 59 seasons for the franchise and never once competed in the playoffs as a Cub.<\/p>\n

Crow-Armstrong is not yet on their level. It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve learned that you need everybody to find success in a little bit tighter of a time window,\u201d Crow-Armstrong said. \u201cThere\u2019s less room for error.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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\u2019t really matter how you get it done. Getting the job done is the only thing that matters in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust being able to stay in the fight is probably the most eye-opening thing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO \u2014 More than four hours before an elimination game at Wrigley Field, Pete Crow-Armstrong went through the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245935,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[479,363,99],"class_list":["post-245934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}