Final regular season for future HOFer and 'Pirate killer' Albert Pujols comes to an end at PNC Park

Two straight months of batting beneath the Mendoza Line is enough to put the majority of MLB players in danger of being sent down to the minors or designated for assignment.

How about when it’s a future first-ballot Hall-of-Famer who’s struggling as such?

That’s exactly the territory Albert Pujols found himself in at the end of June.

The 42-year-old slugger broke into the MLB with the Cardinals, playing in St. Louis for the first 11 years of his career from 2001-2011, leading the club to World Series titles in 2006 and 2011.

Pujols signed a 1-year deal with his former club this past offseason after spending 2012-21 with the L.A. Angels, and later, a portion of 2021 with the L.A. Dodgers.

Ahead of the 2022 campaign, Pujols revealed it would be his last.

That he struggled to begin the year has all but been forgotten at this point, with the Cardinals having captured an NL Central title and now gearing up for an NL wild-card series vs. Philadelphia.

Rightfully so. With Pujols’ enthralling chase of 700 career home runs — let alone reaching the rare milestone itself, an all-time individual accomplishment in the long history of the MLB — who cares about the few lean months that preceded it?

Pujols’ lengthy list of accomplishments includes 3,384 career hits, three NL MVP awards in 2005, 2008 and 2009 (he also finished as runner-up four times), six Silver Sluggers, 11 trips to the All-Star Game and a pair of Gold Gloves.

At this point, anything and everything he continues to achieve is a bonus.

And yet, there is something even more endearing about Pujols’ final regular season, namely how he has been a spark plug for his club dating to the middle of summer.

Pujols might have taken a few months to heat up, but once he got going, he proved to be a major boost for his team.

“There were some stretches where we were trying to scrape some runs together, and it just seemed like Pujols would always come up in the big moment and give us the lead,” said Cardinals reliever Chris Stratton, who was traded by the Pirates to St. Louis in late July. “I don’t know of a run in history like that, at the age that he’s at. You try to take a step back and enjoy the moment, because it’s history being made right in front of you.”

With St. Louis battling the Milwaukee Brewers for command of the NL Central earlier in the season, Pujols’ torrid end to the summer correlated directly to his club performing better.

After hitting .188 in May and .158 in June, at which point he had hit just four home runs, Pujols rebounded noticeably, hitting .320 in July and .361 with eight homers in August.

“Albert started crushing the ball and really found his swing and his timing,” veteran Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright said. “… He had a pretty bad first month. We were thinking, ‘All right, he’s had a great career.’

“… And then, he started hitting the ball hard a lot more often and we’re like, ‘Gosh, this guy’s coming around. He’s looking pretty good out there.’ I’ve seen him for years and years completely carry a team. He did that for us and, obviously, has carried us on his back.”

With 10-time All-Star catcher Yadier Molina, who won nine Gold Gloves for the Cardinals in his 18-year career with the club, also retiring after this season, Wainwright soon will be the last man standing of St. Louis’ “Big Three.”

Molina briefly entered Wednesday’s game, a 5-3 Pirates win, to pinch-hit in the seventh inning, lining out to second base, but not before he was greeted with a strong ovation from the announced crowd of 15,319 at PNC Park.

On July 31, the Cardinals were three games behind Milwaukee for the NL Central lead.

By Aug. 6, St. Louis overtook the Brewers for the division lead for the first time since June. At the end of the month, their lead was six games, and on Sept. 27, they clinched the division title.

In the eyes of fans outside St. Louis, the Cardinals’ conquest of the NL Central was relegated to a sideshow as Pujols neared 700 home runs, which, earlier in the year seemed unlikely if not unthinkable given his rough first few months.

All told, Pujols hit 17 of his 24 home runs since Aug. 10.

“As a fan of baseball, I think it was really good for baseball that he had a really good second half,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said.

As it pertains to the Pirates, Pujols simply could not have gotten to 700 this year without them. Literally.

His seven homers vs. Pittsburgh in 2022 (29% of his total) are by far the most he hit against any opponent, with three apiece against the Brewers and Dodgers tying for second.

Unfortunately for the Pirates, Pujols pummeling their pitchers is nothing new.

Of his 703 career home runs, Pujols has hit 57 against the Pirates, per Baseball Reference. His 59 against the Chicago Cubs and 62 vs. the Houston Astros represent the only opponents against whom he has hit more.

The Pirates and Cardinals concluded the 2022 season with six straight games against one another. As a result, Pujols was given plenty of final opportunities against one of his favorite teams to hit against.

He did not squander the chances. While he didn’t play Wednesday, the final regular-season game of the year, in 12 at-bats vs. the Pirates over the prior five games, Pujols collected six hits and 10 RBIs, tallying career home runs Nos. 701, 702 and 703 in the process.

Fans in Pittsburgh might be less-than-enthusiastic about appreciating Pujols’ career achievements, considering his status as one of the premiere Pirate killers of the 21st century.

But respecting him is another matter entirely and mandatory for anyone who calls themselves a fan of baseball.

“Sitting back now as a fan, now that the season’s over, the last six days (have been) really cool, watching (Pujols) finish,” Shelton said.