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In the underrated baseball film “Little Big League,� Ashley Crow plays the mom of 12-year-old Billy, who becomes the owner of the Minnesota Twins — and then names himself the manager. Young Billy’s character has an exuberant love for baseball, and his joy proves infectious.

The same can be said for Ashley Crow’s actual son.

“The game brings it out of me,� said Pete Crow-Armstrong, the Cubs’ breakout star of 2025. “The game finds a way to grab at you in a bunch of different ways. I love playing the game — I definitely find joy in my everyday.�

At just 23, Crow-Armstrong arrived Monday to Busch Stadium having totaled the most wins above replacement (WAR) of any position player in the National League (4.1). He’s got an on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) of .866 and 61 RBIs. And he just became the fourth-fasted player in Major League Baseball history to accomplish 20 homers and 20 stolen bases in the same season. It took him 73 games. Only Eric Davis, Jose Canseco and Fernando Tatis Jr. accomplished it in fewer games.

“PCA,â€� as they call they kid, is an entertaining and energetic and enthusiastic ballplayer — and he’s going to drive ºüÀêÊÓƵ fans nuts.

Yes, my prediction is he will be the next “hated� Cub among the Cardinals fans. In a way, of course, that’s a compliment to Crow-Armstrong. As Reggie Jackson once said: “They don’t boo nobodies.� But man, PCA plays with such passion (and celebration) that I bet the lightning-fast Cub will become a lightning rod in the rivalry.

This is the perfect week to start. The first-place Cubs entered Monday 4 1/2 games ahead of the Cards — and this is a four-game series, followed on Independence Day weekend with a three-game series in Chicago.

Sure enough, even though the Cubs lost the series-opener in ºüÀêÊÓƵ, Crow-Armstrong went 2 for 3 — and both hits were doubles. Oh, and he robbed Brendan Donovan of a homer with a leaping catch at the wall.

With the ºüÀêÊÓƵ win, the Cards are only 3 1/2 games back of the Cubs. 

The rivalry is relevant again.

And right in the center of it is the likely center fielder for the National League All-Star team — Crow-Armstrong leads all NL outfielders in votes. And only Dodgers players — who have a few extra fans overseas – have more votes than Crow-Armstrong has at this point.

“Pete’s a player that plays incredible defense — he’s super-fast — and he can hit a ball out of the park,� Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “So you’re talking about things that not a lot of players can accomplish all those things — and Pete’s doing it at a really young age. And that makes him really exciting to watch. I mean, the speed probably is the thing that I think draws fans to him as much as anything. I think casual fans can recognize his speed, and that’s always fun to watch.�

Crow-Armstrong is so good for baseball. They called the NBA’s Dominique Wilkins “The Human Highlight Film� in the 1980s; well, in 2025, Pete Crow-Armstrong is baseball’s “Human TikTok Reel.� He’s constantly making amazing plays that flood social media. And he’s fun to follow because he’s not larger than life. He stands 6 feet tall and weighs 184 pounds. And he’s got a youthful face. Yes, it’s the Cardinals’ own speedy center fielder, Victor Scott II, who coined the young-hungry phrase “yungry,� but Crow-Armstrong is the epitome of this particular glee.

Before Monday’s game, I sought out the great baseball wordsmith Jon “Boog� Sciambi. He’s a Cubs broadcaster. I asked Boog: What do you enjoy about watching PCA play?

“That’s a great question,� he said, thinking it over. “You talk about other sports. I feel like if you took someone to an NBA game who had never seen basketball, they could actually pick out the best players. In baseball, because so many games, sometimes the really good players don’t get a chance to stand out. I think he’s unique in terms of — if you brought someone who’d never seen baseball before to a game that PCA was playing in, I think eventually they’d be like, they’d be like: ‘Him.‘ PCA. I mean, look — the speed and the athleticism really jumps out. He plays with a lot of passion, a lot of joy.�

And Crow-Armstrong patrols center field with a flash and fire that ºüÀêÊÓƵ will recognize, regardless of your age — the guy looks like Curt Flood or Willie McGee or Jim Edmonds or Harrison Bader. He’s got seven defensive runs saved already — fourth-most of center fielders in baseball — and will be in the Gold Glove mix for sure.

“When a ball gets hit, you kind of look to the outfielder,� Counsell said. “And if you do this enough, somehow fielders are just starting to move, but it feels like Pete’s already ran three steps. That’s kind of the layman’s way to describe it, I guess. And just that difference, that’s 10 feet, you know? That’s 15 feet, and then you add the speed on top of it, and that’s how you cover and get to balls that maybe you don’t expect people to.�

As for the 1994 film “Little Big League,� it’s always worth a watch. Especially if you need a pick-me-up. It came out during a decade stretch of numerous baseball movies, so it often gets overlooked. But it’s pretty great. Delightful.

“I mean, it’s a great baseball movie,� Crow-Armstrong said. “I don’t think there’s any baseball movie where you got people of Randy Johnson and Ken Griffey Jr. caliber in that film. And, yeah, my mom killed it. I’m glad she’s still getting recognized for that, acknowledged for that. But no, I love that movie, bias aside.�