Cardinals legend Albert Pujols crushes 691st, 692nd career home runs against Diamondbacks

St. Louis Cardinals legend Albert Pujols continued his march toward history Saturday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Pujols socked his 691st and 692nd career home runs, both against Madison Bumgarner, giving him six homers in his last eight games as he looks to become the fourth player ever with 700 homers.

Here are Pujols’ two homers Saturday. The eight total bases give him 6,141 in his career, moving him past Hall of Famer Stan Musial and into sole possession of second place all-time. Hank Aaron, the all-time leader, had 6,856 career total bases.

Pujols has said he will retire after the season. Saturday is St. Louis’ 119th game of the year, giving him 43 games to hit the eight homers he needs to reach 700. This month shows he can do it, though it’s worth noting the Cardinals heavily platoon Pujols, so his playing time depends on the opposing starter’s handedness as much as anything.

Here is the all-time home run leaderboard. If not for the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Pujols would almost certainly be in the 700-homer club already.

Pujols has a chance to catch A-Rod before the end of the month. Heck, with the way he’s swung the bat lately, he might catch him by the end next weekend. This recent home run binge means the chase to 700 is officially on.

The Cardinals entered Saturday with a four-game lead in the NL Central and their September schedule is very favorable on paper (18 of their last 28 games are against the Nationals, Pirates and Reds). If they stretch their lead to, say, 8-9 games these next few weeks, would they give Pujols more starts against righties just to maximize his at-bats as he chases 700 homers? It’s very possible.

Pujols, 42, entered Saturday with a .254/.333/.472 batting line and 11 home runs overall, including .358/.404/.691 with seven homers against lefties.