LOS ANGELES — Pete Crow-Armstrong experienced what he considers a first in his career Friday night at Dodger Stadium.
Typically used to Chicago Cubs fans’ “PCA!” chants, or even the sarcastic cheers from Milwaukee Brewers fans after he dropped a fly ball last year, Crow-Armstrong received a different reception at his hometown ballpark this weekend.
When the Dodgers public address announcer read the Cubs starting lineup, Dodgers fans vehemently booed Crow-Armstrong, a trend that continued before each at-bat and again Saturday when he was announced pregame. The vitriol stems from Crow-Armstrong’s offseason comments to Chicago Magazine that Dodgers fans to go games “to take pictures and whatever,” unlike Cubs fans who “are paying attention, they care.”
He’s fully embraced the heat from Dodgers fans.
“The boos are fun, I’m glad people are showing up and giving it back, for sure,” Crow-Armstrong told the Tribune on Saturday. “It’s what you get when you want to say stuff in the media, and it’s the beautiful part about sports is people get to create their own opinions, and they get to really be about their fandom for their team, and they get to show that in a lot of different ways. So, the boos are fun. I guess I’m going to have to get used to that, it was for every at-bat and that’s great.
“It’s a hard sport to back comments like that up. So it’s just a nice opportunity for me to not go out there and try and force stuff. And I get a lot of joy out of running the ball down, too, so that kept me in (the game) as well.”
As Crow-Armstrong walked off the field following the Cubs’ 6-4 win Friday, rallying to score all their runs in the final three innings, he shouted toward the seats behind the dugout, “Where are they?” Crow-Armstrong said the security team had to kick out multiple Dodgers fans during Friday’s game: “My point got proved. We tied the game, people started fighting each other and getting kicked out, like, this is how it goes here.”
Crow-Armstrong won’t shy away from that type of scrutiny, and the best players step up in those moments. Third baseman Alex Bregman has dealt with boos for years, linked to his time with the Houston Astros that coincided with the sign-stealing scandal in the 2017 World Series, which they won against the Dodgers in seven games. Bregman wasn’t fazed by it, slugging a game-tying home run in the eighth inning Friday for his first marquee moment in a Cubs uniform.
“We’re playing against probably unanimously the best-regarded team in baseball, and I think it’s important to recognize that we feel like we belong in that same conversation,” Crow-Armstrong said. “And getting to play three fun games like this in late April is something to appreciate.”
President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer believes it would be dangerous to put too much meaning into an April game, even as one as thrilling as the Cubs’ comeback win Friday night to extend their winning streak to 10 games. But the matchup instead provided a great example of how exciting a game can be when two teams featuring stars and athleticism around the diamond put together a great performance.
The Cubs know if they want to make a deep postseason run in October, it likely at some point would mean facing the Dodgers. They’re embracing the atmosphere this weekend at Dodgers Stadium.
“Anytime you come in here, honestly, it’s a great environment, this place will be sold out every day, they say back-to-back World Series champions about 90 times a game — which they should, which they absolutely should — and it’s great,” Hoyer said Saturday. “And it reminds you this is the standard. If you’re going to do anything, you’re going to have to go through this team that is fantastic and has Hall of Fame talent after Hall of Fame talent coming up to the plate or going out to the mound.
“And so, yeah, this is the standard, and this is the place you have to be able to win games, so I think it’s a lot of fun for our guys.”
