Cardinals' Albert Pujols Announces He Will Retire After 2022 MLB Season

Albert Pujols confirmed Monday that he will retire after the MLB season in 2022.

He signed a one-year deal with the St. Louis Cardinals, where he spent his first 11 seasons. Bringing Pujols back serves a practical purpose for St. Louis with MLB adopting the universal designated hitter.

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Albert Pujols and the Cardinals reportedly agreed to a one-year deal Sunday night, pending a physical.

"The Machine" spent the first 11 seasons of his career with St. Louis where he appeared in 9 All-Star Games and won 3 National League MVP Awards and 2 World Series titles. pic.twitter.com/LV9FLiAeEM

The version of Pujols who won three of the four Most Valuable Player awards over the course of five seasons cannot be recreated. He had 17 home runs and a.433 slugging percentage in his time with the Los Angeles Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers.

The decline began immediately after he joined the Angels.

Pujols did not make an All-Star team during his time with the Angels. Over his first spell with theCardinals, he had an OPS of 1.037, but his over 1,181 appearances in L.A. had a.758.

The Dominican Republic native had a slash line of.198/.250/.372 by the time he was released by the Angels.

Pujols was a first-ballot Hall of Famer by the time he left St. Louis.

Pujols was one of the best hitters in baseball, but he also matched up well with the greatest of all time.

BaseballReference.com has a JAWS metric that shows a player's career WAR together with what was their seven-year peak as a broad measure for their Hall of Fame worthiness. Pujols has a JAWS score of 80.6, which is second only to Lou Gehrig.

Ken Griffey Jr. is an example of how Hall of Fame voters are willing to look past a decline if a player has a good resume.

After 11 years, Griffey left the team with which he was most associated. He was one of the best players in MLB and a cultural phenomenon.

The time with the Cincinnati Reds isn't remembered as fondly as it could have been, and he had an even worse reunion with the SeattleMariners before retiring. He was close to becoming the first-ever unanimous entrant into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

There is no doubt that Pujols will get in on the first go-round. The only question is how definitive it will be.

He will get a farewell tour that is fitting of his stature within the game.