Albert Pujols’s dream of reaching 700 profession residence runs has hardly been a secret. At the same time as his profession light badly with the Angels, and any hope of topping Barry Bonds for the profession document was snuffed out fully, the possibility of doing what Alex Rodriguez didn’t by changing into the fourth participant to hitch baseball’s 700-homer membership loomed as a distant, however not inconceivable, coda to a terrific profession.
A stint with the Dodgers on the finish of final season rekindled one thing inside Pujols, who gave the impression to be having fun with life in baseball for the primary time in years. And a return to St. Louis for one last run with the Cardinals carried these good vibes ahead into this season.
“I’m the grandpa on this clubhouse,” Pujols mentioned not too long ago. “I’m having a good time.”
However on July 4, any hope of reaching 700 appeared to have run out. An 0-for-2 efficiency towards Atlanta that day lowered his batting common for the season to .189. He had solely 4 residence runs via 82 workforce video games, leaving him at 683 for his profession.
Seventeen residence runs over 80 workforce video games could not have appeared like an insurmountable objective for a participant who has 14 30-homer seasons on his résumé. However his part-time standing and his poor efficiency on the plate made it appear as if Pujols’s farewell tour — he and catcher Yadier Molina are being feted of their last sport in almost each highway metropolis — was virtually fully ceremonial.
Then one thing modified. Whether or not he felt more healthy, his alternatives received higher or some form of desperation kicked in can be left for the biographers to kind out, however since that 0-fer on July 4, Pujols has discovered his outdated Cardinals kind. In a 28-game stretch via Sunday, he hit .408 with a .459 on-base proportion and .829 slugging proportion. His batting common since July 5 leads all gamers (minimal 80 plate appearances), however extra essential, he has hit 9 residence runs, pushing him to 692 for his profession.
“That’s the laborious work I put in day in and time out,” Pujols informed reporters after he homered twice in a win on Saturday. “Nothing surprises me.”
In the course of the sizzling streak, Pujols handed Stan Musial for No. 2 on the profession record for complete bases — he now trails solely Hank Aaron — and he collected a pair of two-homer video games. Together with one other two-homer sport in Might, Pujols owns three of the 12 multiple-homer video games which have ever been recorded by a participant 42 or older.
It has reached the purpose the place almost each sport appears to have Pujols climbing some form of profession or age-based record. The St. Louis Submit-Dispatch famous eight such cases simply from Saturday’s sport.
All of that leaves Pujols solely 5 residence runs in need of passing Rodriguez (696) for fourth on the profession record and eight in need of reaching 700 for his profession, with 40 Cardinals video games remaining this season.
To be clear, the percentages are nonetheless stacked towards him. Along with his effectiveness coming largely in at-bats towards left-handed pitchers, and his age and varied illnesses limiting his taking part in time even past that, he can’t afford something resembling a hunch. And for as sizzling as he has been during the last two months, he has additionally had some excessive droughts this season: Twice he went greater than 30 workforce video games between residence runs. So the probably end result remains to be for Pujols to fall frustratingly in need of each Rodriguez and 700.
However for Cardinals followers, getting one final have a look at Pujols in one thing resembling his classic prime must be satisfying, significantly because the sizzling streak has coincided with St. Louis’s overtaking the Milwaukee Brewers for the division lead within the N.L. Central.
The one factor left that would high the new streak or Pujols’s discovering a solution to get to 700 could be another prolonged postseason run for the slugger and his authentic workforce. In spite of everything, Pujols led the Cardinals to 2 World Sequence titles again when his eventual passing of Babe Ruth, Aaron and Bonds on the profession residence run record appeared like a foregone conclusion.
