Behind another exciting Pete Crow-Armstrong game, the Cubs sweep the White Sox

New York Times

19-05-2025

CHICAGO — Pete Crow-Armstrong is turning into a Bears quarterback, because we have to talk about him and to him every game.
The difference, of course, is that it's for positive reasons.
The young man known by his three initials is already a can't-miss kind of athlete. If the game's on TV and he's at the plate, on base, or, heck, just in the outfield, you don't leave the screen until he's back in the dugout because you never know what he'll do.
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And just to prove there is no task too large for him, Crow-Armstrong almost single-handedly saved the first leg of the crosstown series from turning into a three-day snooze-fest.
When it comes to Chicago baseball, you might say PCA has got more pop than the pope.
In Friday's series-opening 13-3 win, the leadoff hitter went 4-for-5 with a three-run homer and six RBIs. In Saturday's 7-3 victory, he collected two hits, including a triple and a two-run single. And in the finale, a 6-2 Cubs clincher, he hit a triple to open the bottom of the first and added a double down the right-field line. He scored two runs, showing off his speed.
Seiya Suzuki's sac fly drives in PCA 👏 pic.twitter.com/O5tSxXY14W
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) May 18, 2025
So, if you're scoring at home, the Cubs (28-19) outscored the Sox (14-33) 26-8 in these three day games and PCA went 8-for-14 with a homer, a double and two triples, 8 RBIs and four runs scored in front of crowds eclipsing 40,000 all weekend. (On Sunday, Vidal Bruján scored on Crow-Armstrong's double down the first-base line, but it wasn't counted as an RBI.)
'I love feeding off a good Wrigley crowd,' Crow-Armstrong said. 'There's no bad day when the bleachers are filled.'
If you thought Sunday's installation of Pope Konerko XIV, sorry I mean Leo XIV, was going to bless the Sox, well, you weren't counting on the Cubs' new saint of center field.
Still, it might've made sense to think the Sox could steal a game here based on recent precedent. The North Siders were 0-3 at home on Sunday this season and in six previous three-game series where they won the first two games, the only time they finished off the sweep was in Sacramento on April 2. They hadn't swept a three-game series over the Sox since 2008.
Then again, you should always bet the streak too, right?
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The Cubs have now won eight straight games in this series, which is their longest run in the rivalry.
Each team swept the other at their home park in 2008, that magical season in which both teams made the playoffs and people were talking about a rematch of the 1906 World Series. Those were the days when anything could happen in a Cubs-White Sox series.
These are the days when the only thing that seems to happen is a dwindling group of reporters lamenting how the series used to mean something. I'm embarrassed by myself whenever I ask a player about the rivalry, but old habits linger.
We used to have Ozzie Guillen, the manager, talking about the Wrigley Field rats being as big as Sammy Sosa, A.J. Pierzynski stirring it up, Michael Barrett inciting a brawl by punching Pierzynski, Lou Piniella ripping Steve Stone, Piniella ejecting his own players from his dugout because they were being annoying (which happened two years in a row). Heck, we once had writers from the same newspaper almost come to blows in the Wrigley Field press box during this series.
But there's no tension anymore in this rivalry and few personalities to juice a rivalry. We didn't even see Guillen, now the team's pre- and postgame host, at the ballpark this week, which was a bummer, though I did hear him talking about the rats on the radio Friday morning.
At least we have PCA, who along with his offensive exploits, also made several highlight-reel catches in the first two games. As our Patrick Mooney just wrote, he's putting his name in the NL MVP conversation. Beyond his actual contributions on the field, he's also just really, really entertaining to watch. It's not an act either.
PCA is SPEED. pic.twitter.com/xbM2pNJKsv
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) May 18, 2025
'I think baseball brings it out of all of us, if anything,' he said of his on-field flair. 'It's about the sport, it's about the competition and wanting to win so badly every day. It's really just baseball pulling it out of me specifically, but I think a lot of people probably feed off the game the same way.'
The other star of the series was a more unlikely one in the White Sox's Miguel Vargas, who cemented his status as the best third baseman in town. (To be fair, Cubs prospect Matt Shaw is likely on his way back from Iowa.)
Vargas hit his third homer of the series Sunday, which is also half of his season total. (The Sox have homered in 19 consecutive games at Wrigley, which reminded me of that 2020 series when they hit 12 in three games in an empty ballpark.)
Vargas has been on a tear since his batting average dropped to .139 on April 21. In the 22 games since, he's hitting .350 with 11 extra-base hits and 15 RBIs. They're even selling his jersey at the Sox ballpark now. (You might have to look for it, though.)
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Vargas was acquired in what looked like a stone-cold loser of a deadline trade by Sox general manager Chris Getz last season. He's been so hot that when Cubs reliever Brad Keller hit him with an inside fastball in the eighth, he took umbrage with it. Keller was a bit confused, but nothing came of it. No beanball exchange or postgame war of words.
In a more heated era, even without intent, maybe that pitch is stored away for months — the teams face off again on July 25-27 on the South Side — but this weekend, there was no blood-boiling drama at Wrigley Field. It was just what we expected: a first-place team beating up on a last-place one and a young Cubs star showing everyone what he's capable of.