One last playoff push for Cardinals' Albert Pujols

THE 35-FOOT WALK from the on-deck circle to the batter's box at Busch Stadium has become habitual to Albert Pujols. He has made it more than 2,000 times throughout his career (4,000 if you count the old place). But something about it felt different on Sept. 2, when he was announced as a seventh-inning pinch-hitter in an otherwise nondescript game against the fading Chicago Cubs. The air was a little more crisp, the atmosphere increasingly more tense. October was approaching, but it seemed as if the entire city was already there in spirit, anticipating what was on the horizon. Eleven years had passed since Pujols last experienced the allure of postseason baseball in St. Louis, but suddenly it was all familiar again. In that moment, it almost felt as if he never left.

«That night got to me,» Pujols said. «It hit me. The noise — it was different.»

You can watch every St. Louis Cardinals-Philadelphia Phillies wild-card series matchup from Friday through Sunday on ESPN2 and ABC.

Game 1: 2:07 p.m. ET Friday on ABCGame 2: 8:37 p.m. ET Saturday on ESPN2Game 3: 8:37 p.m. ET Sunday on ESPN2*

* if necessary

The finale of Pujols' 22-year, Hall of Fame-worthy baseball career has often felt like a lavish dream. He returned to the place where he became an icon, reached the most distinguished of milestones and, at 42, became a major contributor on a division champion, playing at levels that no longer seemed attainable. As he languished through the better part of the last decade with the Los Angeles Angels, it often seemed as if an entire generation would grow up without ever truly experiencing Pujols' greatness. And then there it was, one final hint of it at the very end. «A blessing,» Pujols called it. But the real prize awaits.

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