Cardinals, Rangers begin Fall Classic

Associated Press

ST. LOUIS

If this is Albert Pujols’ farewell tour with the St. Louis Cardinals, it’s coming on the grandest of stages.

The three-time National League MVP has consistently avoided discussing free agency and was not making exceptions on the eve of the World Series. Swatting aside questions about his future not once but three times Tuesday, the big bat for the wild-card Cardinals was insistent on staying in the moment.

“Let’s talk about something else,” Pujols said. “Let’s talk about baseball. I don’t concentrate about that.”

Pujols has been at the forefront of a team that disposed of the 102-win Phillies and Brewers, the club that finished ahead of them to win the NL Central, since completing an improbable comeback to take the wild card. He’s batting .419 with two home runs and 10 RBIs and an on-base percentage near .500 in the postseason, keeping his free agent value sky high.

He’s very much on the minds of the Texas Rangers.

Texas lefty C.J. Wilson, who opposes St. Louis’ Chris Carpenter in Game 1 tonight, will be facing Pujols for the first time. He’s worried about the big bats surrounding Pujols, too.

Lance Berkman provides power from the left side and Matt Holliday is regaining his stroke after missing time with a finger injury. Sixth-place hitter David Freese was the NL championship series MVP and is batting .425 with four homers and 14 RBIs overall in the postseason.

“Holliday’s the biggest human being I’ve ever seen,” the Rangers’ Ian Kinsler said. “He’s humongous. And you’ve got Pujols right in front of those guys.”

So there’s a lot to consider.

“It’s an American League lineup, just like ours,” Wilson said. “It’s the same way I have to navigate a Yankees game or a Red Sox game or anything like that.”

Pujols, he knows, is the key.

“I made a joke the other day, ‘Yeah, I’ll just throw it down the middle,’ because I’m not going to tell you guys what my game plan is,” Wilson said. “You can’t just go there and try to be macho and throw the ball as hard as you can.

“I think you guys have seen that he’s hit like 500 home runs or something like, so it’s not really a good idea,” Wilson said.

Pujols is the first player in major league history to hit 30 homers, drive in 100 runs and hit .300 each of his first 10 seasons and missed by a hair of making it 11 in a row this year — he batted .299 and had 99 RBIs. Manager Tony La Russa has always been sensitive to overpraise, but in this case can’t help himself.

“I said after his rookie year, he’s the best player I’ve ever seen, and that was 10 years ago,” La Russa said. “I can’t tell you what a privilege it is to watch the guy for 11 years, the way he plays the game and the way he is off the field.”