Cardinals' Albert Pujols: Makes retirement official
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Pujols signed his retirement paperwork Monday, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports.
Pujols managed to turn back the clock during the second half of the 2022 campaign, but it wasn't enough to persuade the slugger to stick around for one more season. He'll hang it up after slashing .296/.374/.544 to go with 703 homers, 2218 RBI and 117 stolen bases over an immaculate 22-year career.
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Cardinals' Albert Pujols: Not starting Wednesday
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Pujols isn't in the lineup Wednesday against the Cardinals, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
Pujols started the last five games and went 6-for-12 with three home runs, a double, 10 RBI and six runs, but he'll get a day off for Wednesday's regular-season finale. Lars Nootbaar is serving as the designated hitter and leading off.
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Cardinals' Albert Pujols: Moves into second in all-time RBI
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Pujols went 1-for-3 with a two-run home run in Monday's 3-2 loss to the Pirates.
In what's becoming a regular occurrence late in the year, Pujols reordered another part of baseball's record book. His two-run blast gave him 2,216 career RBI, passing Babe Ruth for second place all-time, behind only Hank Aaron's 2,297. Pujols got to the lofty spot with a surge of offense, which has seen him homer five times and drive in 13 runs in his last eight contests. The future Hall of Famer is up to a .269/.344/.551 slash line with 24 homers, 66 RBI, 42 runs scored and a stolen base in 108 contests.
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Cardinals' Albert Pujols: Crushes career home run 702
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Pujols went 2-for-2 with a home run, a double, three RBI and two runs scored in Sunday's 7-5 loss to Pittsburgh.
Batting third in his final regular-season game at Busch Stadium, Pujols crushed his 702nd career home run, a 409-foot shot to center field. The future Hall of Famer also hit a ground-rule double in the first inning to score two runs, but the offensive explosion was still not enough to give St. Louis the win. Pujols now has eight home runs in 26 games since the beginning of September and is slashing .268/.344/.543 through 346 plate appearances this season.
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Cardinals' Albert Pujols: Picks up two RBI in win
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Pujols went 1-for-2 with two RBI and two runs scored in Saturday's 13-3 victory over the Pirates.
Pujols continued to rake Saturday, knocking in Paul Goldschmidt and Lars Nootbaar on a first-inning single. He came around to score shortly thereafter on Corey Dickerson's grand slam. Pujols now has hits in back-to-back games and has gone 9-for-27 in his last nine appearances. During that span, the veteran first baseman has seven runs, three homers and eight RBI and has taken his batting average from .256 to .263.
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Cardinals' Albert Pujols: Hits home run No. 701
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Pujols went 1-for-3 with a solo home run and a walk in a 2-1 victory over the Pirates on Friday.
Pujols turned on a 1-2 offering from Johan Oviedo in the bottom of the fourth inning to put the Cardinals on the board with a solo shot to left field that tied the game. It was his 701st career home run and the 22nd home run of his storybook 2022 campaign, which saw Pujols become only the fourth player in MLB history to reach the 700-home run mark. Pujols is slugging .527 in 298 at-bats this season. The last season in which Pujols slugged at this high of a rate was in 2011 (.541).
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Cardinals' Albert Pujols: Rests for second time in three games
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Pujols is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game in Milwaukee, John Denton of MLB.com reports.
After going 0-for-3 with a walk and a run scored in Tuesday's 6-4 win, Pujols will get a breather Wednesday after he and the Cardinals celebrated a division-clinching victory the night before. Now that he's reached 700 home runs for his career and with St. Louis having punched its ticket to the postseason, the 42-year-old Pujols seems likely handle a part-time role over the final week of the regular season.
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Cardinals' Albert Pujols: Steps out of lineup
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Pujols is not in the lineup Sunday against the Dodgers, Katie Woo of The Athletic reports.
Pujols launched two homers Friday to reach 700 for his career and went 1-for-4 with a run Saturday, and he'll take a seat for Sunday's series finale. Juan Yepez will bat fifth as the designated hitter.
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Cardinals' Albert Pujols: Joins 700 Homer Club
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Pujols went 2-for-4 with two home runs, two runs and five RBI in an 11-0 win against the Dodgers on Friday.
Pujols plated Tommy Edman with homer 699 off Andrew Heaney in the third inning and took reliever Phi Bickford deep to left the very next inning to make history with his 700th career home run. The 42-year-old's .250/.324/.583 September slash line has dipped from the vintage lines of August and July, though Pujols is still raking against left-handers with a .358 average, and his .868 OPS is his highest by far since 2011.
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Cardinals' Albert Pujols: Not starting nightcap
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Pujols isn't in the lineup for the second game of Saturday's doubleheader against the Reds.
Pujols started at first base during Saturday's matinee and went 0-for-3 with two walks. Paul Goldschmidt will take his place at first base while Nolan Arenado rests his legs as the designated hitter during the nightcap.
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Cardinals' Albert Pujols: Slugs career homer No. 698
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Pujols went 1-for-3 with a two-run home run in Friday's 6-5 win over the Reds.
Pujols tied the game at 4-4 with a two-run blast in the sixth inning. The 42-year-old has kept up his power surge in September, hitting four homers and slugging .605 despite a .237 batting average through 13 games this month. He's slashing .264/.337/.528 with 19 long balls, 53 RBI, 32 runs scored and a stolen base through 94 contests this year. Pujols is now two away from becoming the fourth member of the 700-homer club with a little over two weeks left in the season.
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Cardinals' Albert Pujols: Hits 697th homer, fourth all-time
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Pujols went 1-for-4 with a two-run homer in a 4-3 win Sunday in Pittsburgh.
Pujols crushed a two-run shot in the ninth inning to put St. Louis ahead 3-2. It was his second homer in as many games and the 697th of his career, surpassing Alex Rodriguez and taking over sole possession of fourth all-time. With 21 games left, the 42-year-old is within striking distance of 700 and could very well be in search of that milestone when St. Louis returns to Pittsburgh for the final three games of the season. On July 9, with Pujols hitting just .198 with four homers, it seemed impossible that he would pass Rodriguez, let alone reach 700. Since then he's posted a .333/.388/.722 slash line with 14 homers in 139 plate appearances.
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Cardinals' Albert Pujols: Ties A-Rod on all-time homer list
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Pujols went 3-for-4 with a two-run home run and an additional RBI in Saturday's 7-5 win over the Pirates.
Pujols' game-tying blast in the sixth inning was the 696th of his career, tying him with Alex Rodriguez for fourth-most in baseball history. Entering Saturday, Pujols had slowed down a bit, going 0-for-12 over his previous four games after a surge at the plate in August. The 42-year-old legend is up to a .266/.339/.520 slash line with 17 homers, 46 RBI, 30 runs scored and a stolen base through 283 plate appearances this year. He'll have up to 22 more games in 2022 in his pursuit to become the fourth member of the 700-homer club.
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Cardinals' Albert Pujols: Slugs pinch-hit homer
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Pujols hit a two-run home run in his lone at-bat during Sunday's 2-0 win over the Cubs.
Pujols hit for Lars Nootbaar in the eighth inning and took Cubs reliever Brandon Hughes deep for the only scoring play of the contest. The homer was Pujols' ninth in 26 games since the start of August, and the 695th of his illustrious career. The veteran slugger is slashing .272/.348/.526 with 16 homers, 43 RBI, 29 runs scored and a stolen base through 267 plate appearances in 2022.
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Cardinals' Albert Pujols: Blasts homer No. 694
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Pujols went 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, two runs scored and a walk in Monday's 13-4 victory over Cincinnati.
After going deep seven times in a 10-game span, Pujols had been stuck in a six-game homerless stretch entering Monday's game. He then knocked a two-run shot in the third inning, giving him 15 on the year and 694 in his historic career. Pujols has caught fire this month in his quest for 700 home runs; he's now 22-for-54 (.407) with eight homers and 16 RBI through 21 August appearances.
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Cardinals' Albert Pujols: Sleeper hitters for Week 22 (Aug. 29-Sept. 4)
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Pujols has hit out of his mind lately with seven homers in his past 15 games, but the sporadic playing time makes him difficult to recommend in Fantasy. He's a good bet to start at least four of the Cardinals' six games this week, though, given the two left-handers on the schedule.
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Cardinals' Albert Pujols: Continues incredible run
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Pujols went 2-for-4 with a solo home run in Monday's 1-0 win over the Cubs.
Even on an evening when offense was incredibly scarce -- the two teams combined for only five hits -- Pujols found a way to continue a blazing stretch at the plate that has now gone on for nearly two weeks. The 42-year-old produced half of his team's hits, and he accounted for the only run of the contest with his solo shot to left field in the seventh inning. Over 10 games since Aug. 10, Pujols is batting a mind-blowing .548 (17-for-31) with seven homers and 14 RBI. The scorching stretch has pushed his season stat line to a more-than-respectable .277/351/.530. He's still seven homers away from reaching 700 for his career, but with the way he's been playing of late, the lofty goal isn't necessarily out of reach.
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Cardinals' Albert Pujols: Launches two long balls
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Pujols went 4-for-4 with two solo home runs and was caught stealing in a 16-7 win over Arizona on Saturday.
Pujols posted a vintage line with solo shots in the second and fourth innings off Arizona starter Madison Bumgarner while adding singles in the sixth and seventh before being removed. The 42-year-old has been exceptional during limited action in August, slashing .452/.514/1.064 with six home runs in 31 at-bats. Pujols' .858 OPS is on pace to be his best since 2012.
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Cardinals' Albert Pujols: Knocks in five
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Pujols went 2-for-3 with an RBI single and a grand slam during Thursday's win over the Rockies.
Pujols pinch hit for Brendan Donovan in the third inning and slugged his 16th career grand slam and sixth career pinch-hit homer, but it was the veteran catcher's first career pinch-hit grand slam. With the blast, Pujols sits at 690 career home runs and has 11 during his age-42 campaign. In 80 plate appearances against left-handed pitching this season, Pujols is hitting .363 with seven home runs and 21 RBI.
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Cardinals' Albert Pujols: Hits two homers in win
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Pujols went 2-for-4 with two home runs and four total RBI in Sunday's win over the Brewers.
Pujols launched a solo shot in the second inning to put St. Louis on the board, then hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning to solidify the win for the Cardinals. The home run gives him three for the month after hitting three in all of July. So far this month, the veteran is batting .368 and has improved his season batting average from .235 to .249. Pujols is inching closer to 700 career home runs, as he sits at 689 after Sunday's two-homer performance.
