​Centerfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong helped the Chicago Cubs outslug the Baltimore Orioles 9-7 on Wednesday night, igniting a moment of MLB history. At Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Crow-Armstrong connected on two home runs, making him the first player this season to reach at least 20 homers and 20 stolen bases. It’s shaping up as his hallmark season.
Could a 40-40 campaign be next? Crow-Armstrong became the third player in Cubs franchise history to post multiple 20-20 seasons, joining Ryne Sandberg and Sammy Sosa, who accomplished the feat in back-to-back campaigns. He also became only the fourth 20-20 player before team game No. 95 for a second consecutive season. The other three players who achieved this rare milestone are Bobby Bonds, who did it in 1969 and again in 1973 and 1977, and Jose Canseco, who reached 20-20 in 1988 and 1998. Crow-Armstrong, who went 2-for-4 with three runs and two RBIs, opened the scoring with a 370-foot solo homer to right field in the first inning, his 20th of the season, his blast coming off Orioles starter Dean Kremer, who would later yield another homer to Crow-Armstrong in the fifth inning, a 419-foot shot to right field off Kremer’s third straight splitter.
Crow-Armstrong also concluded the previous season’s 30-30 run with a 30-homer, 35-stolen-base campaign, both representing career highs. As for this year’s trajectory, the question lingers: will he ascend to the 40-40 club and join an exclusive group of hitters who have swiped 40 bases and slugged 40 homers in a single season?
In other MLB action and narrative threads, Mets’ A.J. Ewing has drawn attention for a 1965 Joe Morgan-style productive approach in a recent loss, while the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani continues to add to MLB history with milestones surrounding his 300th home run. The Nationals’ James Wood is trending toward setting a new MLB leadoff home run pace and is surging toward historically notable 40-20 benchmarks, fueling discussions about whether the Yankees’ shortstop Jose Caballero could become the centerpiece of his team’s renewed success.
This story underscores Crow-Armstrong’s growing impact for the Cubs as he pushes toward elite milestones while continuing to redefine what is possible for a player in this stage of his career. The Sporting News is noted as a preferred source, and readers are encouraged to consider clicking here to acknowledge The Sporting News as a preferred source.