Baseball

Albert Pujols’ chase for 700 filled with important homers in key moments of Cardinals’ playoff push

Albert Pujols' chase for 700 filled with important homers in key moments of Cardinals' playoff push

Ask anyone in the Cardinals clubhouse about Albert Pujols’ singular enthusiasm for becoming just the fourth player in MLB history to hit 700 home runs, and Jack Flaherty will answer.

Everyone recognizes his 700 aspirations, and Flaherty said each of these achievements, while incredible to witness, are significant and meaningful. After all, we don’t just give him his 700 plate appearances. This guy will go anywhere. He evolves as he levels up. That’s the most impressive thing. “

But is it really so? Let’s face it, it’s going to be a great subplot to an already great story from last season.Also, if you’ve only seen MLB Network clips and social media highlights, be wary and It’s normal to suspect that the talk is going too far.

Was the home run as effective as the Cardinals claimed?

Apparently they have The Pujols-operated clutch was pretty awesome. Facts: The Cardinals are 15-1 this year when Pujols hits a home run.

He became one of the better right-handers in the league after his August 10 breakthrough in Colorado (his home run and his two runs put him 4-for-5). was). It’s hard to argue that anyone is better than the left.

Pujols was decent before this match, but he didn’t stand out. No one called his signing a blunder, but by mid-August he had hit just seven home runs and needed 14 more to hit 700. Likely. was not in But since? He has 120 plate appearances against left-handed opponents this season, with 356 at bats, 12 homers, 28 RBIs and 1,168 OPS. This will certainly play. To better understand what he accomplished for the Cardinals, let’s look at each of his 12 home runs, starting with the game in Colorado.

Let’s look at Aaron Judge to provide context. This year, he hit his three walk-off homers with a WPA of . 796 (3 runs down 2 runs), . Additionally, he has his three homers in the WPA .106, .097, and .097 this season. Therefore, the higher the WPA value when the hit was delivered, the higher the severity of the problem. Make sense?