LA Angels Series Preview: Albert Pujols returns to St. Louis

This is a moment that has been nearly a decade in the making. After leaving the St. Louis Cardinals back in 2011 for the LA Angels for 10 years and 254 million Albert Pujols is finally returning to the city that embraced him as their golden child for eleven years.

Even though Albert Pujols is returning as an opponent the city is inviting him with open arms as an old friend and a forever Cardinal. And can you really be surprised? No matter what Albert Pujols will be a Cardinal for life.

Albert Pujols, the 3-time MVP and two-time World Series champion, may not be the player he was a decade ago, but the fact that he left St.Louis at the peak of his career is what has cemented his memory as a forever champion in St. Louis.

They haven’t had to eat the 10 year, 254 million dollar contract paid to him that’s seen much less production in return. St. Louis has not had to watch Pujols lose his swing to age and constant lower body injuries. Albert Pujols was perfect in St.Louis, but with the Angels he’s been as human as you can get; this is as much a tale of two legacies as there’s ever been.

This weekend none of that matters. The nostalgia and admiration for a legacy of championships helmed by one of the greatest hitters in the history of the game has created a palpable homecoming atmosphere that will hang over this series from beginning to end.

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The only thing that would bring this series to storybook perfection would be the weekend of a lifetime from Albert Pujols. Maybe we won’t see him go back to his roots and mash 3 homers in one game against the Cardinals. Maybe he’ll just knock a couple hits and some RBI’s here and there and call it a weekend.

He may even pull an 0’fer this weekend with nothing but strikeouts to show for it. Even if he does, that’s okay, because this series is really about appreciating history and the legacy of Albert Pujols.

Plus, if he flails through the series it won’t really matter because the Angels offense has been scorching lately with the bats of Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani leading the charge. There’s more than enough power in this lineup to make up for the “long-past-his-prime” Pujols.

(6/21) 5:15 PM PT @ FS-W: Griffin Canning (2-3, 3.98 ERA) vs Michael Wacha (4-3, 6.00 ERA)

(6/22) 11:15 PM PT @ FS-W: Felix Pena  (5-1, 4.70 ERA) vs Dakota Hudson (5-3, 3.55 ERA)

(6/23) 4:05 PM PT @ FS-W: Tyler Skaggs (6-6, 4.61 ERA) vs Miles Mikolas (5-7, 4.48 ERA)

A Tale of Two Legacies

.328/.420/.617 with an average of 40 HRs and 41 doubles, 121 RBI’s, and 89 walks to 64 K’s a season.

Those were Albert Pujols’ season averages across his 11 years with the St. Louis Cardinals from 2001-2011. On the other hand his numbers with the Angels have told the tale of a completely different ballplayer.

Pujols’ slash line for the Angels reads .260/.314/.453 with 27 HR’s and 93 RBI’s with 72 K’s to 43 walks and 26 doubles across an average season for Pujols with the Angels over the last 7 full seasons. His last two years prior to 2019 saw him hit under .250 and post an OBP under .300 and this season has seen him post a slash line of .231/.304/.439 with 12 HR’s and 40 RBI’s.

Pujols is having one of the more productive seasons he’s had in the last few years, but it’s still vastly underwhelming and so full of holes it’s hard to latch on to the few things he does decently nowadays.

Especially when he’s being paid close to 30 million a year to post replacement level stats with a little extra power. Over the last two weeks Pujols has his .207/.278/.345, I really don’t think Pujols will be heating up his bat this series unless he takes a torch to it and sets it ablaze before games.

Actually, he should probably try doing that, it might change up his luck. He’s going to want to change it up as much as possible before celebrating his weekend-long homecoming in St. Louis.

It would be great to see Pujols lighting up Busch stadium for what may be one last time in his career. On the other hand it’s almost expected for him to stumble through the series. It would be nice to see Pujols remind St. Louis, Anaheim, and himself of the glory days. Fingers crossed that we get the best of Pujols that we have in the last 8 years.

Griffin Canning, Felix Pena, and Tyler Skaggs need to continue their strong pitching in this series to cap a successful road trip.

The Angels starting has been much-improved as of late despite Andrew Heaney and Jose Suarez the past two games.  Griffin Canning has been great since coming up from the minors and Felix Pena was stellar in his last start as was Tyler Skaggs.

If these three starters can continue to pitch well this weekend and beyond it will go a long way in getting the Angels back to the playoffs for the first time in five seasons.

Canning will face Michael Wacha in the first game. Wacha has been one of the Cardinals young arms that they have been hoping will turn into an ace, but he has struggled this season.  Hopefully the Angels can take advantage of this.

In game two Pena faces Cardinals rising star Dakota Hudson who has been a pleasant for the Redbirds this season.  We will see how the Angels handle him as no one the current team has ever faced him.

Finally on Sunday Tyler Skaggs will face last year’s ace for the Cardinals Miles Mikolas. Mikolas was 18-4 wth a 2.83 ERA which helped him to finish sixth in the Cy Young balloting. This year Mikolas has slumped to 5-7 with a 4.48 ERA.  Skaggs is also a pitcher that can be great, but can also be inconsistent.

If Skaggs can pitch like his last outing in Toronto the Angels will have a good chance to win the series finale.

Overall the Angels need this series to go well to help keep the momentum they have built up in recent weeks and hopefully keep charging toward a playoff berth.