00:00One swing, one pitch, all it needed.
00:02Home run starts the game off with a home run.
00:05We're in extra innings and Pete Crow Armstrong is up to bat.
00:10The last pitch thrown to a Cub batter was to Pete Crow Armstrong,
00:14who hit a home run off that pitch into right field to win the game for the Cubs.
00:20That made history.
00:22We've never seen that before where a player was able to accomplish that.
00:27Last night, Pete Crow Armstrong was on base five times.
00:32He had four hits.
00:34He had three extra base hits.
00:36He had a stolen base.
00:38He led the game with a leadoff home run, and he ended the game with a walk-off home run.
00:43No one else in Major League Baseball history has ever done that.
00:49Why do we go to the ballpark?
00:53Why do we watch sports?
00:54Because on any given night, something is going to happen in the 100-plus year history of Major League Baseball
01:04or any other sport that has never happened before.
01:09It wasn't just that.
01:11Pete Crow Armstrong became the first Major League Baseball player with a leadoff home run on the first pitch his
01:17team saw,
01:17and a walk-off home run on the last pitch his team saw in a single Major League Baseball game
01:24since Vic Power, hell of a name,
01:26did it for the KCAs, thus the hat, versus the Orioles on May 7th, 1957.
01:371957.
01:39So not only did Pete Crow Armstrong have a game for the ages, he also did something we have not
01:45seen for nearly 100 years of Major League Baseball.
01:50That's how you have a game.
01:52That's how you win the MVP.
01:55You need to do things that we haven't seen before in today's world.
01:59You have to have that type of slide, that type of game, that type of moment where it's first pitch,
02:04last pitch, and you have an incredible in-between.
02:07And you're playing gold-glove caliber defense in center field for the Cubs.
02:13So it's not just that you're a hitter because that's the problem for Otani.
02:17If you want to say, why does Otani not win the third consecutive MVP award, it's because he's no longer
02:26pitching.
02:26If he's only a DH, it's a much more difficult conversation.
02:31David Ortiz never won the MVP because of the fact he was just a DH.
02:35If you aren't playing in the field, if you aren't playing defense, and you're competing with somebody who is,
02:40it is a much more difficult mountain to climb for Shohei Otani.
02:45I also think there is voter fatigue.
02:48I think those people voting for the MVP after giving it to Otani in the last two years,
02:53I do think there's some fatigue there where people aren't jumping up and down and going like,
02:58yep, I'm jumping in on that.
03:00So to me, I think this is ripe for PCA to win it.
03:06And the odds are now right there saying it.
03:10We're at minus 110 for both players at the current spot this morning.
03:17Now, can PCA win it?
03:20Of course.
03:21But the Cubs have the second hardest remaining schedule in Major League Baseball,
03:26and they play the Brewers seven more times.
03:31Now, the Cubs, that could be a good thing, right?
03:34If you spin it and say, okay, Pete Crow Armstrong is going to be playing in high leverage games against
03:39the second best or best team in Major League Baseball,
03:42depending on where you put the Brewers behind the Dodgers.
03:44They're playing seven games left with your arch rival.
03:49So if he, PCA, has an unbelievable run during those games and the Cubs go five and two in those
03:57games,
03:57I don't think the Cubs are going to catch the Brewers.
03:59But if PCA is playing in games that people are paying attention to and he does things like he did
04:06last night,
04:06that's how you keep the voters' attention.
04:09Additionally, if you're playing gold glove caliber center field, that also separates you from Shohei Ohtani
04:15because the problem for Ohtani is if he doesn't pitch anymore the rest of the year,
04:23you've got a 30 for 30 and maybe even a 40-40 year going on with 40 home runs and
04:2940 stolen bases
04:30plus a guy who plays gold glove caliber defense and may win the gold glove in center field,
04:35and Ohtani is just a DH.
04:38However, if Ohtani does come back, and he is working out to come back,
04:43if Ohtani does come back and he pitches in September,
04:47and Ohtani, say, gets four to five starts in in September and looks dominant and looks like Ohtani,
04:55again, I don't think Ohtani is going to start the rest of the year.
04:58That's just my personal opinion.
04:59Why risk it if you're the Dodgers?
05:01You don't need to.
05:02Just get him ready for the playoffs and have him be able to pitch in the postseason.
05:06Maybe you have him do one start before the playoffs,
05:09but you don't have him go out there and pitch four to five times when you don't need to risk
05:14it.
05:14So that's why I don't think Ohtani is coming back.
05:17If he doesn't come back to the mound, he's obviously, he had two home runs last night,
05:21so obviously he's back, but not defensively pitching-wise.
05:24I think PCA can win it.
05:26I really do.
05:27And again, I think there is a huge opportunity with voter fatigue for Pete Crow Armstrong to win the award.
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