SAN DIEGO — Pete Crow-Armstrong’s begrudging retreat back to the dugout was the last “almost” in a night full of them.
He had almost checked his swing, but was ruled, for the second consecutive time, to have struck out by the third-base ump.
Many innings prior, he had almost robbed Fernando Tatis Jr. of a tone-setting leadoff homer. Along the way, he almost got the Cubs’ silenced bats going by walking and stealing a base.
This isn’t horseshoes. This isn’t hand grenades. Tuesday, all that “almost” amounted to a blowout playoff loss.
“Almost” doesn’t cut it, and Crow-Armstrong — upset enough by what doesn’t go right that he lamented getting picked off the night he hit for the cycle in a walk-off Cubs win — has reminded everyone of that all summer long.
“When the ultimate goal is to win every ballgame you step out on the field for,” he said that night back in June, “it’s really easy to highlight the stuff that you’re not so happy about that you’ve got to make sure never happens again.”
But the truth is that even in a crucial game where nothing went the Cubs’ way, there were still those glimpses of the type of impact Crow-Armstrong — and only Crow-Armstrong — is capable of making, the impact that has made him the runaway favorite to win the MVP.
He didn’t show off the kind of power that led to a league-leading 45 homers, securing the seventh 40-40 in baseball history. But he flashed his defensive ability. He flashed his base-running ability. It’s that stuff that makes him the one-of-a-kind player the Cubs marveled at this season.
“What’s so great about his game is he can not homer this series or whatever and still be the best player on the field,” second baseman Nico Hoerner said Tuesday. “It’s amazing that he led baseball in homers and he can still dominate without hitting homers.”
And it’s all that stuff that makes him the player Cubs fans will watch make a game-changing impact for years to come. The Cubs locked Crow-Armstrong up on a long-term contract earlier this year, making him the unquestioned centerpiece of both the present and future.
There was another “almost” Tuesday, maybe, Crow-Armstrong perhaps almost getting ejected as he griped about the second check-swing call to the ump who made it.
The Cubs — who see those displays of emotion as part of what makes Crow-Armstrong who he is — have no desire to see them go away.
“I love the way he just wears his heart on his sleeve and doesn’t try to control, sometimes, his anger,” designated hitter Michael Conforto said a couple weeks ago. “As long as he doesn’t hurt himself. It’s part of the reason he’s so great.”
Changes in mindset, though, have been just as important as changes in what he does at the plate as Crow-Armstrong has evolved from someone who could be an important part of the Cubs’ future into the player in the middle of everything.
In part, he has his manager to thank.
“[Craig Counsell has] changed the way that I operate off the field a lot this year,” Crow-Armstrong said last week. “He’s just encouraged me to find a lot of enjoyment outside of coming to the field every day, which is something that was hard for me in years past.
“I have a hard time turning off baseball brain. He’s just been hugely influential in terms of getting me to show up in the right headspace. I credit a ton of my success this year to that and to him.”
Remember, too, that Crow-Armstrong is only 24 years old. He’s made an enormous leap from last season to this season.
What leaps could follow?
“There’s definitely room for him to grow,” first baseman Michael Busch said Wednesday. “He’s just tapping into becoming an extremely good player, a superstar in this league, and him being the person that he is, he’s going to continue to work and he’s going to look for that opportunity to grow. It’s No. 1 on the list of why he’s going to continue to get better over the next several years.”
So you’re saying this might not even be the fully formed version of the best player in baseball?
Maybe almost.