Welcome home, Albert Pujols

The Machine will finish where it all started.

You can try and be mad about the St. Louis Cardinals bringing Albert Pujols home on a one-year deal late Sunday night to return (and retire?) where it all started over 20 years ago, but I won’t buy it.

The coldest cynic in Cardinal Nation can’t be mad about this deal. Pujols is one of the best Cardinals and right-handed hitters in the history of the game. He left on uneasy terms, taking a luscious yet poisoned ten year deal from the Angels after balking at a much different offer from St. Louis.

But that was ten-plus years ago. The Cardinals made the wise choice, many would argue. Some would have gone for nostalgia. That crowd will get rewarded with this 2022 swan song. It will be special. It already is.

Pujols gets to retire with his buddies, Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina. The three came into the league with St. Louis, capturing two titles during their run. It seems all too fitting for the three surefire red jacket owners to leave the field together.

Can you imagine Busch Stadium on April 7 when the three are announced. Ballpark Village will shake. A minor quake will rumble through downtown St. Louis. All for three old baseball players making their last hurrah.

Don’t get lost in the details right now. Enjoy the move in its most raw form, before reality settles in. Let’s look at a few of those realities:

Reality #1: It will be hard for Pujols to get to 700 home runs unless he’s the full time DH. What will help him are games in Miller Park, Great American Ballpark, and Wrigley Field. What won’t help him are 81 games at Busch Stadium. That’s a pitcher’s park versus a hitter who has lost his touch against right-handed pitchers.