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After hitting two more home runs Saturday night, Albert Pujols is only eight away from hitting 700 for his career. At one point, it didn’t seem like Pujols would reach the historic mark, but he is on a hot streak with six homers in his last eight games that puts passing 700 in play.
However, Pujols will not let that number change his decision to retire at the end of the year. The Cardinals legend told USA Today’s Bob Nightengale he still plans on walking away after the season no matter where he ends up on the all-time home run list.
“I’m still going to retire, no matter whether I end up hitting 693, 696, 700, whatever,” Pujols said. “I don’t get caught up in numbers. If you were going to tell me 22 years ago that I would be this close, I would have told you that you’re freakin’ crazy. My career has been amazing.”
Pujols has been hot of late, hitting six home runs in his last eight games. On the season he has 13 home runs and an .858 OPS.
Despite the hot streak, Pujols has no regrets over deciding to announce his retirement ahead of time.
“No, I’ve had enough,” he said. “I’m glad I made the announcement this was it when I signed. Really, I wouldn’t change a thing.’’
If Pujols stays hot, he is likely to pass Alex Rodriguez for fourth all time on the home run list, needing just five more to do so.
And if he does pass 700, it may be a while until we see someone reach that number. There are only two other active players with more than 400 home runs, Miguel Cabrera with 506 and Nelson Cruz with 458.
