By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor
(BASEBALL)—Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina, and Adam Wainwright walked off the field together in the fifth inning of Sunday’s game against the Pirates, the last regular season game Pujols and Molina will play. Wainwright, who has struggled in the last month of the season, has not announced if he’ll be back next year.
Pujols hit one more for the home folks, his 702nd home run, then added his 703rd last night in the sixth inning in Pittburgh, putting him past Babe Ruth into second place in the all-time runs batted in list (only Hank Aaron has more).
His 24 home runs in his final year is the most homers he’s had in season since he hit 31 for the California Angels in 2016.
The Cardinals lost to the Pirates in St. Louis Sunday, then headed to Pittsburgh for the last three games of the regular season. The Cardinals went into the last series of the regular season with a chance to finish above .500 on the road. They were 39-39 going in.
AARON JUDGE was in a tie with Roger Maris for the American League home run record as the Yankees opened a four-game final series with the Rangers. Judge got his 61st home run last week. Roger Maris Jr., says Judge should be considered the Major League home run record-holder if he gets his 62nd homer before the season’s end. Maris says Bobby Bonds’ 73 homers and the 70 hit by Mark McGwire should be in a separate category because both used performance-enhancing drugs. Maris says Major League Baseball “should do the right thing” and consider Judge the home run king if he gets to 62.
Maris has become more vocal as Judge has approached his dad’s American League record. Many might remember that, in 1998, he had no qualms celebrating McGwire’s year.
As far as Judge is concerned, Bonds deserves the crown.
PLAYOFFS—The playoffs begin Friday. The Cardinals entered their last series not knowing who their opponent would be in the best-of-three game series.
(NASCAR)—Finally, a playoff driver has won a playoff race. Chase Elliott is the first playoff contender to lock in a position in the next round of the playoffs by winning a race, in this case a thriller at Talladega. Elliott got a last-lap push from Erik Jones to gain a slight edge on Ryan Blaney and led Blaney to the finish line by less than .05 of a second.
It’s Elliott’s fifth win of the season, the most of any driver. The race became a two-lap shootout after Daniel Hemeric stopped on the track with engine trouble. “It was a wild last couple laps,” Elliott said. Elliott was the last of seventeen drivers to lead the race, which featured 57 lead changes, the most in any single race this year. And the win is a big relief to him. After crashing out of the previous race at Texas and finishing 32nd, Elliott went into the race 8th in points. Only eight drivers will transition into the semifinal round after next weekend’s race on the Charlotte Roval (combination of oval and road course). He’s the first playoff contender to win a playoff race this year. Non-contenders had swept the first four races.
Austin Cindric and Chase Briscoe are tied for the eighth playoff spot. William Byron and Christopher Bell also are on the outside looking in. Alex Bowman skipped the Talladega race because of a concussion he suffered at Texas the previous week. He’ll be re-evaluated this week to see if he can run at Charlotte but he is so far behind in the points standings that he will need a victory to advance.
(INDYCAR)—INDYCAR has announced a 17-race schedule for 2023 with several of the races within reach of Missourians, depending on where they live.
The season begins, as usual, on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida on March 5. They’ll race at the Texas Motor Speedway on April 2, run the Indianapolis road course on May 13 and the Indianapolis 500 on the 28th. The series returns to the Iowa Speedway for a double-header on July 22-23, then goes to Nashville on August 6 and back to the Indianapolis road course on the 12th. The drivers will return to World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis on August 27th for the 15th race of the season and, if the past is an indicator of the future, the championship chase tight going into the last two races of the yearThey’ll race at the Texas Motor Speedway on April 2, run the Indianapolis road course on May 13 and the Indianapolis 500 on the 28th. The series returns to the Iowa Speedway for a double-header on July 22-23, then goes to Nashville on August 6 and back to the Indianapolis road course on the 12th. The drivers will return to World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis on August 27th for the 15th race of the season and, if the past is an indicator of the future, the championship chase tight going into the last two races of the year.
FORMULA 1)—Sergio Perez picked up a history win in the Grand Prix of Singapore, becoming the first driver since 2011 to win both of Formula 1’s street races in the same year. He won at Monaco earlier. He also became the 58th driver in F1 history to lead flag to flag.
Ferrari failed to win for the sixth race in a row but its drivers, Charles LeClerc and Carlos Sainz took the two podium positions behind Perez.
Season points leader Max Verstappen saw his five-straight wins streak snapped. He had a poor start, spun during the race, and finished 7th.
The race was the 350th grand prix start for two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso, the first driver to achieve that number of races. Unfortunately, he was unable to finish.
Five races remain in the Formula 1 schedule.