Albert Pujols punctuated a magical closing season along with his 700th profession house run Friday evening, a shot that made him simply the fourth main league participant in historical past to achieve the milestone.
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Cardinals’ Albert Pujols slugs his way into MLB’s 700 home run club
Pujols, 42, rejoined the crew with which he made a reputation for himself, the St. Louis Cardinals, on a one-year deal this spring. On the time, he had 679 homers. He had surpassed 21 in a season solely as soon as since 2018. By the point MLB named him an all-star to commemorate his stellar profession, he had simply 683 homers — far sufficient away that it appeared he would wish a shocking revival to make it shut. He entered Friday hitting .310 with a 1.022 on-base-plus-slugging share since.
Pujols didn’t want 700 homers to be a surefire Corridor of Famer, although he’s within the smallest of higher echelons now. Solely Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth have extra house runs to their title than Pujols. Bonds’s numbers are thought of tainted by some, his legacy controversial sufficient to maintain him out of the Corridor of Fame.
Solely 9 gamers have extra hits than Pujols. All of them, with the sophisticated exception of Pete Rose, are in Cooperstown. Solely two gamers, Ruth and Aaron, have pushed in additional runs. He’s essentially the most prolific Dominican hitter in baseball historical past and the primary to cross the 700-homer threshold.
Pujols’s push is available in what was already an emotional season for the Cardinals. Longtime catcher Yadier Molina introduced this could be his closing season, which means he and starter Adam Wainwright additionally can be chasing historical past collectively. In September, they made their 325th begin collectively, an report that won’t be damaged anytime quickly.
Whereas Wainwright has stated he may proceed pitching after this season, Cardinals followers have treasured this season as “one final journey” with the three staples of their title-winning 2006 and 2011 squads. Wainwright and Molina stayed in St. Louis their complete careers. Pujols, in the meantime, departed for a 10-year sabbatical in Anaheim — a stint that was not fairly as productive as his early Cardinals years.
He made the all-star crew 9 occasions in his first stint with the Cardinals and simply as soon as as a member of the Angels. He hit 40 homers six occasions as a member of the Cardinals and simply as soon as as a member of the Angels. However no matter might need been in St. Louis most likely would have taken extra out of Pujols than what did occur in Anaheim. Till this season, Pujols wouldn’t have been in a position to function the designated hitter as commonly with a Nationwide League crew. Who is aware of how put on and tear and the battle to maintain him at first base might need affected his capacity to remain within the sport till this season. Nevertheless winding his path again to Busch Stadium could have been, he made all of it the identical.
And that path will give him yet one more probability at a title. The Cardinals entered Friday in charge of the Nationwide League Central, more likely to host certainly one of 4 inaugural wild-card sequence within the first week of October. The three-time MVP has 19 postseason homers in his profession, none of which depend towards that 700 whole. However he doesn’t want something further now. The ultimate push is over. He left no room for doubt.