Will There Be 700?

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    St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols is arguably one of the greatest right-handed hitters of all time. He has a resume that is packed full of accolades and will certainly be finding himself in the Hall of Fame when it is all said and done. However, there is some unfinished business that he hopes to take care of before this happens. This involves Pujols hoping to become the 4th person in Major League Baseball history to hit 700 home runs. As of September 9th, 2022, he is only 5 away from doing so, but with just 23 games left in the Cardinals season, will he be able to reach 700? 

     In the last couple of months, Pujols has been one of the better hitters in all of baseball. He has shown the power that he has not been able to show for multiple years and looks like he has gone back in time. However, as he is only really finding success against left-handed pitching, and the league is dominated by righties, it is hard to say how many more chances he will truly get. Therefore, it is difficult for me, or anyone else, to guarantee that Albert will finish his career with 700+ home runs. 

    While I wouldn't put my life savings on whether or not Pujols will hit 700+ home runs before October 5th, I will still confidently predict that if Albert is given the opportunity to hit in a majority of the games that remain this season, he will reach 700. This prediction comes after Albert has hit 16 on the season up to this point and is based on his recent production. According to Baseball-Reference's 2022 game logs for Albert's 2022 season, since August 1st, he has hit 9 home runs in just 29 games. This shows that Pujols has been swinging a hot bat as of late. Even with his struggles against righties, and limited opportunities with lefties, I think that Albert will be able to muscle out at least 5 more home runs before the regular season ends. 

    If he can hit 5 more home runs, he will join Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, and Babe Ruth as one of four players who have hit 700 home runs. If he does not, he will still go down as one of the greatest hitters in baseball history. No matter what happens, Albert Pujols will forever be a legend. 

      To go along with my prediction, I would truly enjoy hearing all of your predictions. Will Albert hit 698, 700, 702, etc.? Let me know what you think!

Information/statistics retrieved from https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.fcgi?id=pujolal01&t=b&year=2022 and https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=pujolal01&year=2022&t=b 

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