Welcome to The Opener, where every weekday morning you’ll get a fresh, topical column to start your day from one of SI.com’s MLB writers.
Albert Pujols’s days as a feared slugger are long gone, just like the home runs he used to blast with regularity. With the 41-year-old posting career-worst offensive marks across the board this year and owning a slash line of .240/.289/.405 since 2017, it was time for the Angels to shut down The Machine and let him restart his Hall of Fame career elsewhere. The move was overdue given Pujols's reported insistence on being a regular fixture in the starting lineup.