Powered by the bat of Albert Pujols, the St. Louis Cardinals won Game 2 of the National League Championship Series by a 12-3 score at Milwaukee’s Miller Park Monday night.
Pujols went 4-for-5, with three doubles, a home run and five runs batted in. In the process, the first baseman moved ahead of former teammate Jim Edmonds at the top of the Cardinals career post-season home runs and RBI lists. (Edmonds’ final playoff RBI was with the Chicago Cubs in 2008.)
No one in National League history has now hit more post-season home runs than Pujols’ 14 and with 42 RBI, he is just five behind all-time league leader Chipper Jones.
In fact, just 11 seasons into his career, of which seven have been playoff years, Pujols now ranks in the top ten in Major League Baseball post-season history in both homers and RBI. Needless to say, he has joined some elite company.
Career MLB post-season home runs
| Rank | Player | Games | HR | |
| 1 | Manny | Ramirez | 111 | 29 |
| 2 | Bernie | Williams | 121 | 22 |
| 3 | Derek | Jeter | 152 | 20 |
| T4 | Reggie | Jackson | 77 | 18 |
| T4 | Mickey | Mantle | 65 | 18 |
| 6 | Jim | Thome | 67 | 17 |
| 7 | Babe | Ruth | 41 | 15 |
| T8 | David | Justice | 112 | 14 |
| T8 | Albert | Pujols | 63 | 14 |
| T10 | multiple | players | 13 |
Note that Pujols RBI rate, exactly two per every three post-season games, is third-best in the all-time top ten, after David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez.
Career MLB post-season RBI
| Rank | Player | Games | RBI | RBI/G | |
| 1 | Bernie | Williams | 121 | 80 | 0.661 |
| 2 | Manny | Ramirez | 111 | 78 | 0.703 |
| 3 | David | Justice | 112 | 63 | 0.563 |
| 4 | Derek | Jeter | 152 | 59 | 0.388 |
| 5 | Reggie | Jackson | 77 | 48 | 0.623 |
| T6 | Chipper | Jones | 92 | 47 | 0.511 |
| T6 | David | Ortiz | 66 | 47 | 0.712 |
| T8 | Jorge | Posada | 125 | 42 | 0.336 |
| T8 | Jim | Edmonds | 64 | 42 | 0.656 |
| T8 | Albert | Pujols | 63 | 42 | 0.667 |
Tied one game to one, the Cardinals return home for NLCS Game 3 on Wednesday. Pujols likely has many more post-season contests ahead in which he can further his already-impressive power and production totals.
Thanks to researcher Tom Orf for the above tables.
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Mr. October
When all is said and done Albert may very well be recognized as the best to ever play the game. An absolute stud.
No question, getting hot at the right time is invaluable. That applies to both pennant chasing and contract chasing. Albert is doing a great job helping the Cards and himself, masking the questions raised earlier concerning the downward trajectory of his stats over the last couple years.
Jay and Freese are very impressive. Circumstances have conspired against Craig getting much face time this post-season, but he has proven himself already.
AP should think about these records when he decides which team to play for in the future. Better be a team with a good chance to make the postseason.