Dodgers Team News

Dodgers News: Former Dodger Albert Pujols is On a Tear in St. Louis

Future Hall of Famer and former Dodgers DH Albert Pujols is back in St. Louis, where he spent the first eleven years of his career and amassed the vast majority of his Cooperstown résumé. After spending most of last season in Los Angeles after being released by Fake Los Angeles, Pujols re-signed with the Cardinals to play his 22nd and final season in the big leagues.

Pujols entered the season with 679 career home runs, giving him an outside shot at reaching 700, but he hit just six long balls in the first three-and-a-half months of the season.



Someone must have told him time was running out, though, because he has caught fire since late July.

After not starting the game on Thursday with Rockies righty Antonio Senzatela on the mound, Pujols pinch hit in the third inning with the Cardinals leading 6-0 and lefty Austin Gomber on the mound. On the second pitch he saw, Pujols deposited the ball into the crowd in left field for a grand slam, his 11th homer of the season and 690th of his career. He later added a single and drove in another run, finishing the day 2-for-3 with five RBIs.

Pujols’ OPS currently sits at .814, his best mark since 2012. After having a bounce-back season last year with the Dodgers where the “bounce-back” was represented by being almost a league-average hitter, Pujols is nearly 30 percent better than league average this season.

His chances of getting to 700 homers are still slim — he’d need 10 home runs in the Cardinals’ last 45 games after hitting 11 in their first 117 games — but it sure is nice to see the legendary Uncle Albert ending his career on a high note.

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Jeff Snider

Jeff was born into a Dodgers family in Southern California and is now raising a Dodgers family of his own in Utah. During his previous career as an executive at a technology company, he began writing about baseball in his spare time. After leaving corporate America in 2014, he started doing it professionally. Jeff wrote and edited for Baseball Essential for years before joining Dodgers Nation. He's also the co-host of the Locked On Dodgers podcast, a daily podcast that brings the smart fan's perspective on our Boys in Blue. Jeff has a degree in English from Brigham Young University. Favorite Player: Clayton Kershaw Favorite Moment: Kirk Gibson's homer will always have a place, but Kershaw's homer on Opening Day 2013 might be the winner.

One Comment

  1. Glad he stopped by LA for a cup of coffee…but he will always be a Cardinal

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