Home of The Worst Fans in Baseball Podcast

He Fucking Did It

By Tom

Behold.

St. Louis Cardinals designated hitter Albert Pujols reached a milestone tonight, hitting career home runs 699 and 700. He is the fourth player in Major League history to achieve the feat, and the second right-handed hitter to do so.

Pujols reached the feat in his 22nd year, returning to St. Louis after spending the previous 10 seasons in Los Angeles playing on a 10 year mega-deal for the Angels, before being DFA’d and playing for the Dodgers. Pujols entered this season on a one-year $2.5 million deal. His contributions were doubted by many, including this writer, but since his signing he has now hit 21 home runs and is currently carrying an .870 OPS. 

After a slow start that saw him with a sub .640 OPS at the end of June, Pujols has been one of the best hitters in the Majors. He currently ranks 3rd in wRC+ and OPS. He has hit 17 home runs through 61 games, with Aaron Judge being the only player to match that pace. Since July 1st, The Cardinals have been 46-27 and are now 16-1 in games when Pujols homer. 

There’s a strong case to be made that Paul Goldschmidt or Nolan Arenado are this year’s National League MVP; value is a construct we’ve defined through the years to mean many things. Roger Peckinpaugh won MVP for his defense, Kirk Gibson his leadership, Miguel Cabrera for the Triple Crown, and Mike Trout for being a sabermetric darling. Value is what you make of it, but no one has been more valuable to this team and organization–this year and forever–than him, the Machine. 

Albert Pujols.

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  1. Final Grades: A More Than Good Enough Season – Home of The Worst Fans in Baseball Podcast

    […] I’ve written enough about Albert throughout the year. He hit 700 and then some, he passed Babe Ruth, he put up vintage numbers after July becoming maybe the best NL hitter during that span. He hit 24 tanks, more than Carlos Correa, Javy Baez, Kris Bryant, Alex Bregman, Freddie Freeman, and Joey Gallo. For $2.5 million Albert was easily worth $16 mil, probably a lot more I mean have YOU SEEN the lines to get into Busch? […]

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