FOUND SOLUTION...
I tried deleting the extra APN, but once you reboot, you'll be right back where you started. The additional APN gets added back.
This problem essentially comes down to which party is responsible for the APN settings that are auto-loaded into the phone...google or cricket.
I contacted google support and they stated that this is a carrier issue. (Which makes sense, because how would google know what the carrier specific apn settings would need to be?) So I contacted Cricket, they wouldn't listen to me.
What I figured out by looking at another 8.1 pixel xl that had Straight Talk as a carrier was that there were also 2 APN's. Only, this device worked without any issues.
Upon closer inspection, one APN was specifically for IP4(inactive) and one was specifically for IP4/IP6(active). The IP4 one was missing entries for mms proxy and mms port. So I added those in and saved. Even though the IP4 was inactive...its missing entries were causing issues. But after adding the mms proxy and port back in, everything worked. I rebooted and the settings stayed in place.
That's the only long-term work around I've found so far.
But I'm pretty sure Cricket needs to fix the auto APN settings that it sending out to the phones.