Stop fumbling the Albert Pujols plan, Cardinals

It's almost too simple.

You’re a first place team, so act like one.

Tied for first, that is.

After a Sunday finale loss that cost them the series against Boston, the St. Louis Cardinals head to Milwaukee tied with the Brewers atop the National League Central Division. 38-30 isn’t a bad mark to hang your hat on in the final 10 days of June, especially with a club as bruised as the Cards.

They haven’t played much baseball this season with one of their rotation anchors in Jack Flaherty (he returned last week, too early), and outfielders Tyler O’Neill and Dylan Carlson also visited the Injured List. Sooner or later, each team will suffer their own slate of unfortunate injuries and sidelined talent. It’s the nature of the beast from a sport that plays 162 games per year--unless a pandemic derails part of it.

For teams hanging around the middle of the pack in most offensive team categories, the Cardinals must make good use of their bats and the way they use them. You don’t have to scratch the surface too hard without getting knee deep in the Albert Pujols debate.

One side is happy to see him play whenever and wherever, a place I used to stand firmly inside of. It was comfy there in the early spring. This team could be a middle of the pack playoff hopeful, but Pujols could make a hard push for 700 and create some memories on the way out of an illustrious career.

The other side could take or leave his presence. They understand the nostalgic appeal of an AP return, but also want the team to do what’s right by its very well-equipped farm system of position players. Matthew Liberatore may get some acclaim due to his starting pitching upside, but it’s the versatile everyman appeal of Brendan Donovan and Juan Yepez that should be ingrained with any Cards team from the past 25 years. If they can play all over and hit well, oh baby here we go. That’s the mentality.

Jeff Curry/USA Today Sports

It’s the reason I have one foot inside the second group of individuals in this debate. Seeing Pujols take swings at an older age in Cardinal Red is about as sweet candy as this sport can get, but there’s the downside of an 0-3 performance with three strikeouts that just stinks up a beautiful Sunday afternoon at the “Cathedral of Boston.”