St Louis Cardinals

The legendary careers of Yadier Molina and Albert Pujols have come to an end.

The St. Louis Cardinals duo will officially hang up the cleats this weekend after being swept by the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Wild Card Series.

The Phillies defeated the Cardinals 2-0 on Saturday to punch their ticket to the National League Division Series for the first time since 2011, when they were defeated by Molina, Pujols and the Cardinals in five games.

While Twitter was understandably hyped up about Philadelphia's win, it was also a time to reflect on the legendary careers of two future Hall of Famers:

Both Molina and Pujols announced before the 2022 campaign that this year would be their last in Major League Baseball. Molina spent his entire 19-year career in St. Louis while Pujols signed a one-year deal to return to the franchise this year after stints with the Los Angeles Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers.

Despite their ages (Molina is 40 and Pujols is 42), both players were key pieces for the Cardinals this season.

Molina slashed .214/.233/.302 with five home runs and 24 RBI in 78 games, while Pujols hit .270/.345/.550 with 24 home runs and 68 RBI in 109 games. He had an incredible second half that saw him join the 700 home run club.

Molina retires a two-time World Series champion, 10-time All-Star, nine-time Gold Glove winner, four-time Platinum Glove winner and a one-time Silver Slugger winner. Pujols hangs up the cleats a two-time World Series champion, 11-time All-Star, two-time Gold Glover, six-time Silver Slugger, a Batting Title winner, NLCS MVP and three-time NL MVP.

Incredible careers for two players who will surely find their names in Cooperstown when eligible.

St. Louis Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley struggled in Friday's Game 1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, but the situation might be worse than initially expected.

The Athletic's Katie Woo reported that Helsley experienced numbness in his middle finger during the ninth inning, during which he surrendered four runs that allowed the Phillies to take a 6-3 win at Busch Stadium. He's out for further testing, and his status for the remainder of the NL Wild Card series is uncertain.

Helsley had jammed his finger in Tuesday's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He downplayed the injury at the time, saying: "I don't think there was anything super wrong with it. Just give it some rest and let it resolve itself."

The Cardinals were 74-3 this season when leading after eight innings. St. Louis took a 2-0 lead with two outs in the seventh on Juan Yepez's two-run homer, the first go-ahead pinch-hit home run in franchise postseason history.

Things fell apart when Helsley tried to put the game away in the ninth. After striking out Rhys Hoskins, he gave up a single to J.T. Realmuto before issuing back-to-back walks to Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos. With the bases loaded, Helsley plunked Alec Bohm to score a run.

The St. Louis training staff came out to check on the All-Star closer. Helsley tried to throw some warm-up pitches, but he was eventually pulled for Andre Pallante, who then surrendered a two-run single to Jean Segura that put the Phillies ahead for good. Philadelphia tacked on three more runs before the inning was over.

If the Cardinals were to lose Helsley for any amount of time, it would be a major blow to their hopes for a deep playoff run. The 28-year-old is the team's most reliable reliever, recording a 1.25 ERA, 94 strikeouts and 19 saves in 54 appearances out of the bullpen this season.

St. Louis is surely hoping for good news, but it appears there's a chance Helsley won't be available for Saturday's Game 2 at Busch Stadium.

The St. Louis Cardinals were two outs away from victory before a meltdown by Ryan Helsley opened the door for the Philadelphia Phillies to claim a 6-3 win Friday in the National League Wild Card Series.

The 2022 All-Star closer entered in the eighth inning with a two-run cushion. He got his first two batters out and opened the ninth by striking out Rhys Hoskins.

That's when the tide slowly began turning against St. Louis.

J.T. Realmuto got a base hit followed by walks to Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos. With nowhere to put him, Helsley hit Alec Bohm with a pitch to bring home Realmuto and make it a 2-1 game.

Manager Oliver Marmol pulled Helsley after the right-hander was looked at by the team trainer. Bringing on Andre Pallante didn't help matters as he immediately surrendered a two-run single to Jean Segura.

Philadelphia continued pouring on the offense. It was a shocking turnaround after everybody left the Phillies for dead.

Losing Game 1 in a three-game series is obviously costly, and now, the Cardinals might be without their best reliever for the remainder of the round. Even assuming he's healthy, Helsley threw 33 pitches and at the very least is out of the picture for Game 2.

The rest of the team has to recover emotionally as well from losing a game they were so close to winning.

St. Louis will look to bounce back in Game 2, which gets underway Saturday at 8:37 p.m. ET.

Albert Pujols is preparing for his final postseason run with the St. Louis Cardinals, but he wouldn't be doing so had he decided to hang up the cleats midseason.

In an interview with MLB.com's John Denton, Pujols revealed that he came close to retiring in June amid struggles at the plate that saw him hit .173 in the months of May and June combined.

"No, I did. I swear I did," Pujols said when asked if he felt there were times he questioned his decision to return for a 22nd season. "There were some times when I [asked] myself that, many times."

Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak told Denton he was aware that Pujols was considering retirement in June, adding that the club is "glad that he was able to marshal through it."

When asked why he ultimately decided to continue playing, Pujols told Denton that the team's staff influenced him to keep pushing forward:

“When you have good people around you and they are encouraging you and you realize that God has opened so many doors for you, man, it puts things back into perspective. I decided, ‘I’m going to stick with it!’ I knew sooner or later it was going to come and turn around for me, because it can’t be like it was all year long.”

Pujols went on to have a tremendous second half, slashing .319/.379/.678 with 20 home runs and 51 RBI in the months of July, August, September and October. His blazing second half saw him join the 700 career home run club with Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth.

The 42-year-old ended up finishing the regular season hitting .270/.345/.551 with 24 home runs and 68 RBI in 109 games.

Pujols announced before the 2022 campaign that this season would be his last. He told Denton that his goal is to go out a World Series champion.

If Pujols and the Cardinals don't win it all, he'll go out a two-time World Series champion, three-time MVP, 11-time All-Star and a batting title winner. He also has two Gold Gloves and six Silver Sluggers.

The Cardinals open their quest for their first World Series title since 2011 with the National League Wild Card Series against the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday afternoon at Busch Stadium.

The Philadelphia Phillies will be greeted on their return to the Major League Baseball postseason by the franchise that ended their last foray into the playoffs.

The St. Louis Cardinals will host the Phillies in the National League Wild Card series 11 years after the two sides met in the NLDS, a series that marked the end of Philadelphia's last championship window.

Philadelphia comes into Busch Stadium as the No. 6 seed in the NL, but it can pose a challenge with its pitching through Zach Wheeler and Aaron Nola.

St. Louis has been sputtering a bit on the offensive side of the ball, and it could be the most susceptible team of the four wild-card round hosts to an upset.

The Phillies' path to an upset lies behind the starting pitcher duo of Wheeler and Nola.

Nola produced one of the more underrated seasons in the majors, as Sports Illustrated's Alex Carr and MLB.com's Jason Catania noted.

Nola will likely take the mound in Game 2 after Wheeler faces the Cardinals in Game 1. He and Wheeler have strong numbers against St. Louis' two best hitters, Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado, as Corey Seidman of NBC Sports Philadelphia pointed out:

St. Louis has more questions regarding its rotation. Miles Mikolas should start Game 1, but the other starters are up for debate.

Jack Flaherty may be taken out of the starter discussion and work out of the bullpen. The Athletic's Katie Woo called Flaherty "a pivotal weapon," no matter which role he features in during the postseason.

The NL Central champion may need more bullpen help if Ryan Helsley is unable to start the series. Helsley suffered a jammed finger on Tuesday. The Cardinals noted they removed him as a precaution from that game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

MLB.com's John Denton commended the Cardinals for their usage of Helsley and also noted the awful timing of the injury.

St. Louis also has one of the bigger narratives surrounding it in the postseason. Adam Wainwright, Yadier Molina and Albert Pujols will be participating in their last playoff runs.

Pujols comes into the series with more regular-season home runs than Bryce Harper, as well as a few younger stars of the game, as CBS Sports noted.

St. Louis may need its offense to come up with big hits more than Philadelphia if its hitters are at a disadvantage. Goldschmidt, Arenado and Pujols, as well as the small ball of Tommy Edman, could be called on to counter whatever Harper, Kyle Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto and the Phillies produce.

Philadelphia won the season series 4-3, and five of those games had fewer than eight runs. That could mean one big hit may alter the direction of the series.

Albert Pujols' late-career magic continued Monday.

The St. Louis Cardinals legend launched a solo home run in the top of the sixth inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates. It was the 703rd home run and the 2,216th RBI of his career, which puts him second on the all-time list in the latter category.

He broke a tie with Babe Ruth, and only Hank Aaron (2,297) has more RBI than Pujols:

It was more of the same for Pujols, who had just six home runs at the All-Star break and now has 24 on the year. He has been an offensive force in the second half of the year for the Cardinals and is one major reason they clinched the National League Central crown and are a threat heading into the postseason.

If he continues hitting like this, he may end his career with a World Series crown.

As he approaches the end of his storied career, St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols continues to put himself in elite company.

Pujols launched his 702nd career home run in Sunday's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. With the solo blast, he has now tied the legendary Babe Ruth for second all-time on the RBI list with 2,214.

Pujols announced in March that the 2022 season would be his last, and he's going out in style. The 42-year-old has now hit 16 home runs since the start of August to up his season total to 23. His quest for 700 home runs was the feel-good story of the season's second half, and he still has time to continue adding to his legendary resume.

Sunday's game against the Pirates is Pujols' final regular-season home game at Busch Stadium. Along with catcher Yadier Molina, who is also retiring at the end of the season, Pujols was honored prior to the game. Mayor Tishaura Jones declared that Oct. 4 will be known as Yadier Molina Day and Oct. 5 will be Albert Pujols Day in St. Louis.

"To all you in Cardinal Nation, the best fans in baseball—thank you so much for all your support, all the joy, all the tears that we have shared together," Pujols said to the home crowd. "I love you all. You guys are always gonna have a special place in my heart. God bless you all."

The Cardinals won the NL Central for the second time in four seasons and are set to be the No. 3 seed in the 2022 playoffs. St. Louis is surely hoping that Pujols' magical run continues in the postseason.

Even though he will be retiring as a player after the 2022 Major League Baseball season, Yadier Molina is going to be around the sport for the World Baseball Classic.

The Puerto Rico Baseball Federation announced Thursday that Molina will manage the island's roster during the 2023 WBC.

When Molina signed a one-year contract extension with the Cardinals in August 2021, he announced the 2022 season would be his last.

"Well, it's enough," Molina told reporters regarding his decision to walk away. "I mean, 19 years is a long career, and my position is a tough one. Right now, I would like to do my best, and I'm going to train my body hard, but it's hard to keep up with this game to a high level right now when you’re 39."

Even though Molina has spent 19 years in the big leagues, he doesn't appear eager to leave baseball behind altogether.

In April, it was announced Molina was going to manage a winter ball team in Venezuela next offseason.

Puerto Rico's announcement that Molina will manage the squad in the 2023 World Baseball Classic comes amid turnover behind the scenes for the commonwealth's baseball team.

General manager Eduardo Pérez stepped down earlier this month because no one told him Molina was being hired as manager. Pérez wanted to hire Joe Espada, who is currently a bench coach for the Houston Astros, as the club's skipper.

Molina has played for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic since the tournament's inception in 2006. The Puerto Rican team was the runner-up in 2013 and 2017.

The 2023 World Baseball Classic will run from March 8-21. Taiwan, Japan and the United States will host pool play. The semifinals and championship will take place at LoanDepot Park in Miami.