The MLB betting odds that Dominican American first baseman for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim José Alberto Pujols Alcántara will reached 600 home runs in the course of this season are pretty much set in stone – barring any unforeseen event. What fans who bet on baseball wonder is when this will happen. Pujols is three homers short of joining Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, A-Rod, Willie Mays (but not Willie Mays Hayes), Ken Griffey, Jr., Jim Thome, and Sammy Sosa in the 600 HR club. Pujols has hit six home runs in 43 games this season – about one every seven games.
At that rate, the Dominican should be hitting his 600th homer around the mid-June point. Pujols was a three-time National League MVP with the St. Louis Cardinals, as well as the 2001 Rookie of the Year and a nine-time MLB All-Star (2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010). Pujols played in St. Louis for 11 seasons, where he won two World Series championships in 2006 and 2011. In addition to all of that, he is a six-time Silver Slugger Award winner and has led the NL in home runs twice, and once in batting average, doubles, and RBIs. His career regular season batting average is .312, walk rate 12.1%, and Isolated Power .217. These are the wages of Hall of Fame career.
The best MLB betting odds are that Pujols will hit the vaunted 600th home run against the New York Yankees, with whom the Angels have a three-game home series between June 12th-14th, and then another three-game set in New York on June 20th-22nd. Pujols belted his sixth homer of the season in the first inning of Wednesday evening’s game versus the Tampa Bay Rays. It was also the 137th opening-frame home run of his career, which makes him one of just three players to hit at least 40 first-inning home runs for two different teams. The others are Mark McGwire – who hit 51 with the Oakland Athletics and 47 with the Cardinals – and Alex Rodriguez, who had 40 for the Texas Rangers and 50 for the New York Yankees.
Pujols’s numbers have taken a slight nosedive this season, and the is projected to finish with around 24 home runs, when he’s finished with fewer than 30 in just two of his previous 16 seasons. The first time was an injury-shortened 2013 season, when he posted 17 in 99 games. The second was 2014, when he hit 28. The Dominican’s current contribution to the Angels is more intangible. He protects Mike Trout because he is good when Trout is on base. as a matter of fact, Pujols is very good when runners are in scoring position. While some fans who bet on baseball may think that he is older, slower, and overpaid, the truth is that Pujols is sort of like the David Ortiz of the Angels. And per MLB betting odds, he will be rewarded for that with at least 600 home runs.