In the ways we have learned to compare eras, we know his OPS was 57% better than average in his rookie year, and a shockingly symmetrical 54% better than average in his unexpected grand finale.ĭespite all the leaps forward, the quantitative impact of Molina’s sage presence will be stubbornly elusive. We knew how hard it came off Pujols’ bat, and the top speed he reached on his way to first base for the very last time. By the time he laced that last single Saturday, we had precise measurements of how fast the sinker he hit was spinning, and in what direction. We don’t know exactly how many fastballs Pujols faced in his rookie season, or how fast they were going. Winners of the 2011 World Series as a wild-card in the original four-team playoff format, Pujols’ and Molina’s Cardinals are the first division winners to fall before the Division Series in MLB’s new, larger playoff setup. The numbers will also capture a period of tectonic shifts in MLB. The 703 homers will solidify into a memory, and eventually become more familiar to baseball fans than his coiled batting stance or beaming grin. With Pujols’ exit, there will be new active leaders in games, plate appearances, hits, runs, homers, doubles, RBIs, walks, intentional walks, sacrifice flies, total bases and Wins Above Replacement. The sterling statistical records Pujols and Molina accumulated will settle now - oxidize into distinct patinas on their bronze, Cooperstown-worthy careers.

(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson) Numbers of Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina will echo through time It doesn’t give equal time, and it will stop without warning.Ĭardinals legends Yadier Molina and Albert Pujols took their final bows as the Cardinals were eliminated by the Phillies. Baseball’s big unseen clock doesn’t bend to sentimentality or narrative pressure. As he won NL Rookie of the Year, the Mariners’ riveting Ichiro Suzuki laid claim to the AL award - much like Julio Rodriguez will this season - and led a 116-win team that crashed out abruptly, and then never got back. That year, Pujols was only the second-brightest rookie phenom.

The duo that worked through a nearly sleepless night at the winter meetings to bring Pujols to the Angels - general manager Jerry Dipoto and assistant GM Scott Servais - have found a more joyous second act steering the Seattle Mariners to their first postseason run since 2001. Soon enough, another megastar named Bryce Harper rocked the game by moving on from his original team, only to see it immediately romp to World Series glory behind his even more precocious replacement. Pujols watched a similarly prodigious player, Mike Trout, rack up similar excellence and accolades without the postseason shine. In short order, his move juxtaposed the Cardinals’ constant October appearances with the cruel reality that many players and teams never get even a second in the sun.

Mlb 9 innings 18 combination cards