Pete Crow-Armstrong tries to explain why he mocked Dodgers fans

When Cubs heart fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong’s scathing remarks about Dodgers fans took off this spring, he wasn’t fearful about how fans would possibly interpret them. His back-and-forth with the Dodgers fans dates again a number of years.

“I wanted to make sure that the people on the other side of the field who I really respected knew where I was coming from, and that it had nothing to do with the people on the field,” Crow-Armstrong advised The Times earlier than the Dodgers’ 6-4 loss to the Cubs on Friday, filled with gratitude for Dodgers supervisor Dave Robertsshortstop Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman specifically. “I wanted to make sure that nobody took it in that way, that I was going to the Dodgers.

“Was I poking fun at Dodgers fans? Absolutely.”

It all began in late February, with a Chicago Magazine article on Armstrong, who quoted him: ”I really like Chicago increasingly more. It’s simply an unimaginable metropolis. The persons are nice. They give as—. They aren’t simply baseball fans who go to the sport like Dodgers fans to take photos and no matter. They are paying consideration. “They care.”

After the story got here out, Crow-Armstrong went on “Foul Territory” and doubled down.

When the Cubs got here to city Friday, Dodgers fans made it clear they hadn’t forgotten. Thunderous boos greeted Crow-Armstrong as he walked up to the plate for the primary time. But Crow-Armstrong was anticipating that, and he did not stroll again something he stated.

“What I wish people could see through is, I’m not getting at die-hard Dodger fans,” he stated. “They obviously exist, they’re out there. I grew up seeing those people, too, but it’s a see-me city, man. It’s a Lakers city where people show up to sit courtside and look good. And I see it the same way here.

“Thank you, Shohei [Ohtani] and Freddie and Mookie because it wasn’t always like this.”

On that last point, his tone was sincere.

Friday’s announced attendance at Dodger Stadium was 53,733, the seventh sellout of the season.

Dodger Stadium played an important role in Crow-Armstrong’s baseball upbringing. The son of two actors, Ashley Crow and Matthew John Armstrong, Crow-Armstrong grew up in Los Angeles and attended Harvard-Westlake.

He went to plenty of Dodgers games, but when Crow-Armstrong was younger, he latched on to players rather than teams. From the Dodgers, he was drawn to Matt Kemp— “He was the s— to me growing up” — Andrew Ethierand naturally, Clayton Kershaw.

“I remember specific stuff too, like Adrian Gonzalez’ first homer as a Dodger,” Crow-Armstrong stated. “We had been all watching that collectively. The Dodgers had been an enormous a part of my life rising up.”

Crow-Armstrong, baseball-hungry from a young age, would also go to Angel Stadium when the Yankees were in town to watch Derek Jeter, one of his favorites, go up against Mike Trout’s Angels. Eventually, his father, an Illinois native, recruited his son into Cubs fandom.

Crow-Armstrong’s LA ties made that first trip with the Cubs to Dodgers Stadium feel “special.” Regardless of the size of the stadium, or the major league stage, part of that first experience in September 2024 made him feel like he was back in high school.

“I’m playing in front of my friends again, and I’m getting to show off for my friends and all that fun stuff,” he said. “There’s nothing better to me than seeing a random face that I didn’t know was coming to the game, and they’re sitting three rows behind our dugout. … That’s by far what I look forward to most about this trip.”

Show off he did.

Crow-Armstrong’s standout defensive showing peaked in a game-sealing catch over the wall in right-center field, robbing Max Muncy of a home run.

The rookie center fielder didn’t bother to hide his delight, jumping and shouting in celebration. He developed a contentious relationship with Dodgers fans in that series.

“They were really quick to talk… s— to me when I was in center field,” Crow-Armstrong said. “And I respect that form of stuff. Like they’re clearly engaged and in the best way that they need to be. … And simply very simple to form of give it proper again. Like, ‘Yeah, please, be my visitor.’ But I form of love that.”

The Cubs’ subsequent go to to Dodger Stadium was simply as eventful. News broke that the Cubs and Crow-Armstrong’s brokers at CAA had engaged in extension talks. Then he broke out of a stoop to hit two residence runs and a triple in a win that clinched a sequence victory.

“I love playing here,” Crow-Armstrong stated afterward. “It’s a fun crowd, and I like the noise. I think the Cubbies like playing here, too.”

He grinned, in case the jab was too refined.

Crow-Armstrong had an analogous look on his face when that historical past got here up once more Friday.

“If we’re going to be immature and childish about it,” he stated, “I’d say they started it, they just gave me an opportunity to kind of run with it.”

Crow-Armstrong walked into Dodger Stadium anticipating it to be a subject he’d have to deal with all weekend, absolutely ready to hold operating with it.

“Each fan base has their own personality,” he stated. “And I was really just comparing my own two experiences: playing for the Cubs, and people showing up and enjoying it, and there’s just an air about the place; and then here, it is what it is like. Maybe if I played here, it’d be different. But I don’t.”

His expertise with Cubs fans additionally factored into his want to stick with the group long run. This spring, I signed a six-year, $115-million contract. And on Friday, I recommended Cubs fans for his or her persistence.

“It wasn’t the hottest start to my career, but I got loved the same way that I do today,” Crow-Armstrong stated. “And even right now, when it’s been tough on me results-wise, all I hear running out to the field is, ‘Hey, we love you. We got you. The city loves you. You’re the best.'”

The sentiment from Dodgers fans Friday was just a little totally different. Not solely did they boo Crow-Armstrong’s each at-bat, however even the Dodgers’ social media group piled on.

After Crow-Armstrong struck out in his first at-bat — one in all Dodgers starter Emmet Sheehan’s career-high-tying 10 strikeouts — the Dodgers’ social media account posted a video of his final whiff, with the caption: “A strikeout worthy of taking pictures and whatever.”

Crow-Armstrong and the Cubs, nonetheless, acquired the final chortle, because the Dodgers’ bullpen buckled. With the rating tied on the ninth Friday, Crow-Armstrong lined a single into shallow left subject in opposition to Dodgers reliever Tanner Scott. Then Scott grooved a fastball down the center to Dansby Swanson, who hit it over the left-field wall.

Crow-Armstrong had a visit across the bases to relish the relative quiet he and his teammates had induced.