St Louis Cardinals

St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols is approaching the end of his legendary MLB career, and he's one step closer to achieving history before he hangs up his batting gloves for good.

Pujols launched his 695th home run on Sunday, putting him one shy of tying Alex Rodriguez for fourth-most all time.

UN. BE. LIEVABLE. The Cubs challenge Albert and he makes them pay. Homer No. 695!!!!!

TV: Bally Sports Midwest
Stream: https://t.co/QBjr9fl3cH#STLCards pic.twitter.com/W5s8LDf4ZC

— FanDuel Sports Network Midwest (@FanDuelSN_MW) September 4, 2022

Pujols' pinch-hit two-run blast in the bottom of the eighth broke a scoreless tie and propelled St. Louis to a 2-0 win over the Chicago Cubs.

Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas pitched eight scoreless innings with three strikeouts. The victory completed a three-game sweep for the Cardinals, who have won seven of their last eight games and improved to 79-55.

Sunday's homer continues a late-season resurgence for Pujols. The 42-year-old now has 16 home runs this season, and nine of them came after the start of August. If he continues raking like this, he has a chance to become the fourth player in MLB history ever to reach 700 career home runs.

With less than a month remaining in the regular season, the Cardinals a firmly in control in the NL Central with an eight-game lead over the second-place Milwaukee Brewers. There could be more opportunities for Pujols to be included in the starting lineup for some extra at-bats as the postseason approaches.

The Cardinals will host the Washington Nationals on Monday in the opener of a four-game series.

The 2022 MLB free agent class has the potential to be filled with superstar players, but St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado is not expected to be one of them.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports that the 31-year-old is not expected to opt out of his contract with St. Louis.

"Even with NL MVP candidate Nolan Arenado planning not to opt out of his Cardinals deal—'he will stay a Cardinal,' a friend says—no less than six opt-outs and player options for stars will bolster a solid free-agent list and make it special," Heyman wrote.

Arenado signed an eight-year, $260 million contract with the Colorado Rockies in 2019 before being traded to the Cardinals two years later. Per Spotrac, he is set to make a base salary of $35 million in 2023, but if he doesn't opt out after this season, Colorado will have to pay $20 million of his salary to St. Louis in $4 million increments from 2023 to 2027.

The seven-time All-Star also had the opportunity to opt out of his deal at the end of the 2021 season, but he sounded like he was content in St. Louis when he told Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he was "absolutely coming back."

There hasn't been much to deter him from re-upping with the team again. St. Louis is in first place in the NL Central with a 76-55 record and Arenado is amid another strong season. The nine-time Gold Glove award winner is slashing .307/.370/.571 with 28 home runs and 89 RBI. He hit a two-run blast in Wednesday's victory over the Cincinnati Reds.

This year's free agent class will be headlined by New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge and Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Trea Turner. But Heyman noted that several stars are expected to exercise the opt-out in their contracts, including New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom, Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander, San Francisco Giants hurler Carlos Rodon, Minnesota Twins shortstop Carlos Correa and Boston Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts.

Albert Pujols is certainly going out on a high note.

The St. Louis Cardinals slugger hit the 15th home run of what will be his final season during Monday's game against the Cincinnati Reds. The long ball, which was the 694th of his legendary career, came off Reds reliever Ross Detwiler in the third inning.

ALBERT!!! pic.twitter.com/NwkaOrQK3q

— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) August 30, 2022

ESPN noted Detwiler is the 450th different pitcher that Pujols has taken deep, which breaks a tie for the most all-time with Barry Bonds.

What's more, it was Pujols' eighth home run in August, which ties the mark set by Bonds and Carl Yastrzemski for the most long balls in a single month for a player who is at least 42 years old.

The 42-year-old had just seven home runs for the season entering August.

While he won't catch Bonds' career record of 762 homers, he is two long balls behind Alex Rodriguez for fourth on that list.

At the pace he is going, it will be a matter of at-bats until he passes A-Rod.

Albert Pujols is back with the St. Louis Cardinals? Well, isn't that a nice story.

There wasn't much else to say about the situation when Pujols and the Cardinals reunited in March after 10 years apart. As cool as it was that the future first-ballot Hall of Famer was returning to the place where he won three MVPs and two World Series between 2001 and 2011, the odds of him making it a fruitful reunion were surely low.

Several months later, however, this nice story has morphed into a serious question: Is the 42-year-old Pujols actually going to make it to 700 home runs?

After hitting .198 with four home runs in 47 games through July 9, Pujols has come alive to club 10 homers in 27 games since then. His career total stands at 693, putting him just seven long balls away from the big 7-0-0.

The most recent of Pujols' blasts was of the "You gotta see this" variety. On Monday at Wrigley Field, he took a 93 mph fastball from Chicago Cubs left-hander Drew Smyly that was darn near eye-level and launched it 373 feet:

Another one! pic.twitter.com/LWFbBWL8Sp

— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) August 23, 2022

In a flash, Pujols has thus gone from needing 17 homers in 75 games to just seven in 39 games in order to join Barry Bonds, Henry Aaron and Babe Ruth in the 700 Home Run Club. This is obviously assuming the Dominican Republic native doesn't come back for another season in 2023, for which we'll take his word.

“Where I’ll be in 2023 is here...watching some of these guys play from the stands,” Pujols told reporters, referring to Busch Stadium. “I really don’t think about [coming back]. This is it for me...I’m going to take a little break.”

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Hey, He's Come This Far...

Pujols may have come into 2022 more or less on the doorstep of 700 home runs, but the uninspiring slog that came before didn't exactly bode well for his chances.

After averaging 42 home runs per 162 games in 11 seasons with the Cardinals, he averaged "only" 30 through the first nine seasons of a 10-year, $240 million contract with the Los Angeles Angels—and as you'll remember, one of those was a 60-game affair that hamstrung his pursuit by default.

After he hit five homers through his first 24 games of 2021, the Angels had seen enough. They designated him for assignment on May 6, a move that may have spelled the end of his career if the Los Angeles Dodgers hadn't given him a chance and benefited to the tune of 12 homers in 85 games.

All the same, that amounted to just a 23-homer pace over a full season. Pujols would have to do at least that well in 2022 in order to make it to 700, and his recent track record wasn't the only thing that suggested not to take that bet. Throughout MLB history, only one player has ever hit as many as 20 homers in his age-42 season: Bonds with 28 in 2007.

Speaking of Bonds, though, Pujols has him matched in at least one respect. They're now the only 42-year-olds in history to hit 10 home runs in a 25-game span.

This stretch effectively shattered preseason projections for Pujols, the most generous of which (ZiPS) had him going deep just 13 times in 2022. As such, that ZiPS now projects him for just four homers the rest of the way should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt.

If it's a question of what kind of percentage can be put on Pujols' chances of joining the 700 Home Run Club, we'll defer to Baseball Reference on that one:

Updated since Pujols hit 693 yesterday:#PujolsWatch | #STLCards https://t.co/F4WVIhSErq pic.twitter.com/huOerXOVrT

— Baseball Reference (@baseball_ref) August 23, 2022

Lloyd Christmas would see a chance here, and so do we.

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So, Why Not a Little Further...

Beginning with the date of his fifth home run on July 10, Pujols was hot to the tune of a .969 OPS going into the All-Star break. He's been more like scorching coming out of it, batting .439/.492/.930 over 21 games.

A couple things are going on here, starting with what we'll call the "Juan Soto Effect."

The San Diego Padres wunderkind theorized that his participation in the 2021 Home Run Derby would fix his swing after he had hit too many ground balls in the first half. That indeed happened for him, and it's likewise happening for Pujols since he partook in this year's derby:

• 1st Half: 41.8 GB%
• 2nd Half: 34.0 GB%

Pujols' rate of home runs per fly ball has also improved, from 12.5 percent to 33.3 percent.

Hypothetically, the latter is the kind of number that even Aaron Judge would be hard-pressed too sustain even if he were playing in, say, a mailbox. Yet Pujols hasn't been hitting cheapies. Per Statcast, his home run off Smyly would have been out at only five of MLB's 30 stadiums. Otherwise, the other 13 home runs he has this year would have exited at least 28.

April 2, 2001 - Pujols gets his first MLB hit at Coors Field.

August 10, 2022 - Pujols gets his 687th home run at Coors Field. pic.twitter.com/wnIfpMkF6i

— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) August 11, 2022

These things help explain why Cardinals manager Oli Marmol has been giving Pujols more playing time, as his plate appearances per team game are up from 1.7 through July 9 to 2.4 since then.

Then there's the slugger's downright brutal treatment of left-handed pitching. He was doing fine against southpaws through July 9, slugging .481 with two of his four homers. He's been doing a lot better than fine since July 10, punishing them to the tune of a 1.278 SLG (yes, that's a SLG and not an OPS) and eight of his 10 homers.

If Pujols' platoon advantage is going to be the primary factor in his playing time down the stretch, the road ahead is favorable. Per Roster Resource, the starting rotations of the Cardinals' eight remaining opponents include 11 left-handers.

Further, the Cardinals' status within the National League Central should also work to his advantage.

With the team having gained a 5.5-game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers and an 86.9 percent chance of winning the division with its Pujols-led 20-5 charge since July 27, Marmol is looking at extra leeway to run Pujols out there against right-handers. Not an ideal lineup choice, to be sure, but one that would add well-earned at-bats to his pursuit of 700.

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At Last, a Prediction and an Appreciation

So, is Pujols going to get the seven home runs he needs to join Bonds, Aaron and Ruth in baseball's inner-most home run circle?

The head says no, as chances are that Pujols' recent home run surge will prove to be as good as it gets. Even Bonds hit a wall at this point in '07, homering just once after Aug. 25.

But the heart? It says, "Shut up, head." And since that sounds reasonable enough, let's go for it: Pujols will hit exactly seven more homers and finish his career with a nice, round 700.

The record should show, though, that it won't be any kind of disappointment if Pujols falls short.

His season could end right here and now, and it would nonetheless go into the books as one of the great final acts in MLB history. This is a guy who seemed done as recently as last May, if not even more recently. Yet for one 25-game stretch, at least, he was able to go where nobody his age ever goes.

It will have been a final telling of the true story of Pujols' 22-year career. That in spite of all his hard times, he was one of the greatest to ever do it.

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Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.

Albert Pujols is getting closer to the 700-home run milestone, but the St. Louis Cardinals veteran doesn't plan to come back for another season if he falls short.

"I'm still going to retire, no matter whether I end up hitting 693, 696, 700, whatever," Pujols told Bob Nightengale of USA Today. "I don't get caught up in numbers. If you were going to tell me 22 years ago that I would be this close, I would have told you that you're freakin' crazy. My career has been amazing."

Pujols hit two home runs Saturday during a 4-for-4 day against the Arizona Diamondbacks to give him 692 for his career. He now has five home runs in his last five games and six in August after totaling just seven in the first four months of the season.

The 42-year-old sits four shy of Alex Rodriguez for fourth in major league history.

If he can pass A-Rod, the next step would be becoming the fourth player ever with 700 home runs, joining Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755) and Babe Ruth (714).

Pujols signed with the Cardinals on a one-year deal this offseason, returning to the team where he played the first 11 years of his career before leaving in free agency after the 2011 season for the Los Angeles Angels. He announced in March that this season would be his last.

"This is it for me. This is my last run," he said.

The slugger reiterated his intent to retire on Saturday, despite a quick joke about his recent success.

"If I can't hit 70 homers, I'm not coming back," Pujols said. "No, I've had enough. I'm glad I made the announcement this was it when I signed. Really, I wouldn't change a thing."

For those counting at home, the Cardinals have 43 regular-season games remaining.

St. Louis Cardinals star Nolan Arenado believes Paul Goldschmidt deserves the National League MVP Award this season.

"He's the best player in the game," Arenado said Friday night.

Arenado has strong feelings about just how good Goldschmidt is: "He's the best player in the game. That's just what it is, and I stand by that comment with a lot of confidence."

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— FanDuel Sports Network Midwest (@FanDuelSN_MW) August 20, 2022

He added, "It's not even close," per Bob Nightengale of USA Today.

Goldschmidt entered Saturday with a .339 batting average, .421 on-base percentage and 1.056 OPS, leading the majors in each category. He also has 30 home runs and 96 RBI.

Only New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge has a better wins above replacement mark among position players, per Baseball Reference.

The 34-year-old already had six All-Star selections, four Gold Glove Awards and four Silver Slugger Awards heading into this season, which is shaping up to the best campaign of his 12-year career.

It could be enough for the veteran to win his first MVP after he finished in the top three three times while he was with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The slugger finished sixth a year ago, but his numbers are better nearly across the board in 2022. He had 31 home runs, 99 RBI, a .294 batting average, an .879 OPS and 12 steals last season.

Perhaps more importantly, the Cardinals are in first place in the National League Central after finishing second in each of the last two years, having built a four-game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers with five straight wins.

Arenado (.923 OPS, 25 HR, 77 RBI) has also been a key part of St. Louis' success this season, but there is a clear top dog in the clubhouse this year.

St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright celebrated the "incredible" Albert Pujols after the future Hall of Famer delivered a pinch-hit grand slam in Thursday's 13-0 win over the Colorado Rockies.

"He looks the same as when he left to me," Wainwright told reporters. "This is what he's supposed to look like, here, this stadium, doing these things."

Pujols returned to the Cardinals, where he played from 2001 through 2011, in March to play the final season of his career following stints with the Los Angeles Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers.

His 690 home runs rank fifth in MLB history, six behind fourth-placed Alex Rodriguez, and his 16 grand slams are tied for 10th all-time with Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth and Dave Kingman.

Pujols, 42, is no longer the dominant force he was during his first stint with the Cardinals, when he rightfully earned the nickname "The Machine" en route to earning a then-record 10-year, $254 million contract from the Angels.

He's quietly provided solid value for St. Louis this season, though. He's recorded an .814 OPS with 11 homers and 35 RBI across 68 appearances.

"I think at the end of the day, just being part of a great organization, a great group of guys that want to win, young players they're watching, I'm blessed to be here, and just help those guys out," Pujols said. "It's fun, trust me."

His contributions are one of the many reasons the Cards have overcome a sluggish start and surged to the top of the NL Central with a 66-51 record.

Wainwright, 40, is another, as he's continued to pitch at a high level deep into his own career. He delivered seven scoreless innings in Thursday's triumph over the Rockies to lower his season ERA to 3.11, which ranks 21st in MLB.

That play from two franchise legends combined with MVP-level contributions from the likes of Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado have the Cards trending toward World Series-contender status.

It's unclear whether Pujols will get enough at-bats down the stretch to pass A-Rod on the HR list, but his legacy is already secure, and he can only add to it from this point forward.

St. Louis is back in action Friday night as it opens a three-game road series against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.

The St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs will compete in London, England for a two-game series in 2023, MLB announced Thursday:

It’s official. The @Cardinals & @Cubs are heading to London for a two-game series June 24-25! 🇬🇧@LondonStadium will host this epic rivalry as part of MLB World Tour: London Series 2023

Who will we see there?👇

Sign up for #LondonSeries pre-sale tickets https://t.co/OIJ82PSRp2 pic.twitter.com/WeiLjWx2XA

— MLB Europe (@MLBEurope) August 4, 2022

The matchup represents a return of regular-season games in England following the 2019 series between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees at London Stadium.

Like the last set of games, the 2023 version will feature bitter division rivals and should generate plenty of excitement for both local and international fans.

Each of the Yankees-Red Sox games drew an attendance of more than 59,000, which was the most for any regular-season game since 2003. The Cubs and Cardinals could expect similar numbers as two of the more famous franchises in baseball.

The Cardinals currently rank second in the majors in attendance this season while the Cubs rank seventh despite sitting in last place.

Another thing we can learn from the previous London series is fans should expect a lot of offense. The Yankees won the first game 17-13 and the second 12-8.

While it will be just the second time MLB will be played in Europe, the league has scheduled games worldwide during the international series with games in Japan, Mexico and Australia.

Games were played in London, Tokyo and Monterrey in 2019, but the COVID-19 pandemic limited travel over the past three years.

The international series is now back, with the World Baseball Classic also set to return in 2023.

Major League Baseball's trade deadline is often about non-contending teams trading their notable players to contenders so they can rebuild for the future, but two playoff contenders made a deal just before Tuesday's 6 p.m. ET deadline.

The New York Yankees announced they sent left-handed pitcher Jordan Montgomery to the St. Louis Cardinals for outfielder Harrison Bader and a player to be named later or cash considerations.

Ken Rosenthal and Lindsey Adler of The Athletic and Jack Curry of YES Network initially reported on the deal.

From New York's perspective, the starting pitching rotation was getting somewhat crowded after it landed Frankie Montas in a trade with the Oakland Athletics.

Montas was one of the headliners potentially available at the deadline, and the Bronx Bombers improved their already excellent outlook by adding him to a rotation that also included Gerrit Cole, Jameson Taillon, Nestor Cortes, Montgomery and Domingo German.

Luis Severino also figures to return from the injured list, which meant multiple starters may have been shifted to the bullpen ahead of the playoffs.

By trading Montgomery, it acquired an asset in Bader and may have cleared some of the logjam in the rotation.

Bader has been with the Cardinals his entire career which dates back to 2017. The first thing that jumps out about him is his fielding ability, and he was a Gold Glover in center field last year with 15 defensive runs saved above average, per FanGraphs.

Offensively, he is slashing .256/.303/.370 with five home runs, 21 RBI and 15 stolen bases in 72 games. While he will be overshadowed in a powerful Yankees lineup, he is someone they can deploy as a pinch runner or defensive substitution in key moments come playoff time with his speed on the basepaths and fielding ability.

As for the Cardinals, Montgomery is another starting pitching addition after ESPN's Jeff Passan reported they acquired Jose Quintana from the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday.

Jack Flaherty and Steven Matz are both sidelined by injuries, so St. Louis needed to add more depth if it was going to catch the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central. Milwaukee is three games ahead.

Montgomery has made 21 starts this season with a 3.69 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and 97 strikeouts in 114.2 innings.

Teams looking to acquire Washington Nationals star Juan Soto ahead of Tuesday's deadline have one more day to up the ante, and the three presumed finalists reportedly did just that.

According to Jim Bowden of CBS Sports, the St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres "all improved their offers to the Nationals" even though Tuesday will likely be the time "we're going to find out what team really wants him the most."

Bowden suggested it may take throwing in an additional prospect who has not been included in trade offers to this point.

Yet there may be a backup option in place for at least the National League West teams considering Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported the "Dodgers have looked at Ian Happ, though, as with the Padres, that seems like a backup plan to Soto."

Happ, who is a member of the Chicago Cubs, was a first-time All-Star this season.

Still, ever since Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported last month that Soto rejected a 15-year, $440 million contract extension from the Nationals, he has been the focal point of the entire trade deadline.

After all, it's not often a 23-year-old star with the chance to be one of the faces of the league for more than a decade with a contract that keeps him under team control for two more seasons beyond the current one becomes available, but that is the situation here.

The Dodgers landing Soto would further solidify their spot as the National League favorites.

They're 68-33 with a lineup that includes Mookie Betts, Trea Turner and Freddie Freeman. Six of their players were All-Stars this year, and they have been in three of the last five World Series.

San Diego is the Dodgers' most serious threat in the NL West, even if there is a 12-game gap separating them in the standings. There is enough talent in place to at least challenge Los Angeles in a playoff series, and that disparity may have shrunk some Monday when the Padres landed closer Josh Hader in a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Trading for Soto could help further reduce that gap and ensure he isn't on the other side of the rivalry.

St. Louis has an opportunity to challenge the Brewers in the NL Central, and landing Soto the day after a Milwaukee team with a three-game cushion in the race traded Hader would be quite the one-two punch.

Whether that is enough for the Cardinals to give up an extra prospect or two remains to be seen, but a lineup with Soto, Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado would be quite formidable.