Albert Pujols vs Cardinals in NL Wild Card Game is a beautiful October interlude drama

Albert Pujols knows how to play the October hero.

The player associated with Cooperstown was the 2004 NLCS Classic MVP, when he hit four home runs with nine RBIs, 0.500 GAA and 1.563 OPS as the Cardinal beat the Astros in seven games. The following year, he broke an epic home run against Brad Ledge in Game 5 of the NLCS. He’s got a 0.968 OPS in 16 World Championship games – he’s made three home runs in one of those competitions – and helped the Cardinal win two titles.

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So. The big stage is nothing new.

But it’s different this time. When the Pujols were heroic for the Cardinals, it was because he somehow met the crazy and high expectations he set for himself during his time with the club. He was a future Hall of Famer collecting immortality points, and extra streaks on his board.

But as Pujols, who is now with the Dodgers after the Angels raised him near the end of his $240 million 10-year contract, prepares for the 2021 NL public game, things are different. If he gets up to the moment, it will be about exceeding low expectations, not meeting high expectations. He’s been a producer with Dodgers—12 home runs, 0.759 OPS at 204 PA—but at 41 he’s just a shadow of himself on the home plate. If he started from first base in the prairie, it would only be because Max Muncy, the regular star, came out with an elbow injury.

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However, giving the start to Pujols is not certain. He’s mingled with two others, Cody Bellinger and Matt Petty. It’s not exactly fierce competition. Bellinger is an ex-best player, sure, but he’s nowhere near 100 percent and only at 0.165 this season. Dodgers may prefer to keep a midfield gauntlet. Petty might get a nod, but he’s only got 82 PAs in the second half, averaging 0.225 and 0.639 OPS, and he’s started exactly one game at first base in the past two months. However, he is a left-handed hitter and throws the opponent from Los Angeles with his right hand.

“We have some options, but I’ll think about it for another 24 hours,” Dodgers coach Dave Roberts said at a Tuesday meeting with reporters. “If a player starts the match, he might not finish the match there, and try to keep some options with the roster, the defense, all that stuff.”

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If Roberts has a sense of drama, history, and wonderment, he’ll give the Pujols a head start because the Dodgers’ opponent, of course, is the Cardinals.

Cardinals of Pujols. Yes, they are still his team. They are always his fans. This hat will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. The Cardinal throws veteran Adam Wainwright into a wild card game. I mean come. These two people were teammates for seven years in St. Louis.

“Albert is a great friend, but now we’re fighting,” Wainwright said Tuesday in typical Wainwright fashion. We will reconcile then. But we are fighting now.

The Cardinals (11 World Championship titles) and Dodgers (seven titles) are some of the most legendary baseball teams, so there’s no shortage of interest in this game. But Pujols vs. Wainwright and the Cardinals in a wildcard contest for the winner?

That’s a good TV, guys. This is the October drama. It must happen.