Albert Pujols on Pace for Baseball's Triple Crown

St. Louis Cardinals slugger, Albert Pujols is on pace to complete the unprecedented batting Triple Crown. According to many fans, the Triple Crown is the epitome of excellence in batting. For those who don't know, the Triple Crown is awarded to a batter who leads the league in the three major categories (home runs, runs batted in, and batting average) at season's end.

Pujols currently leads the National League in homeruns with 30, after hitting two more HR's against the San Francisco Giants. This category is all but a lock for Pujols. Adrian Gonzalez, who is second on the list, only has 24 homeruns at the moment, six HR's behind Pujols and the deficit is growing daily. Raul Ibanez is two behind Gonzalez with 22 HR's, good for third on the list. Mark Reynolds is fourth with 21 HR's, and Adam Dunn is fifth with 20 HR's. If Pujols can keep up this insane pace, he would finish with 62 homeruns.

Pujols also is currently leading the league in RBI with 77. Unlike the HR category, this one is more tightly contested. The only person who looks to have a chance to catch up to Pujols is Prince Fielder, who is second with 74 RBI's. The gap is very wide from second to third with Ryan Howard third on the list with 60 RBI's. Raul Ibanez (59) and Hanley Ramirez (58) are the remaining two players that round out the top five.

The only category in the batting Triple Crown that Pujols is not leading at the moment is in average, where he is tied for sixth place. Pujols has an outstanding batting average of .332, but has some work to do to catch up to the leaders. Hanley Ramirez currently leads the league with an average of .345. David Wright of the Mets is second (.340) and Pablo Sandoval is third (.338). The injured Carlos Beltran is fourth (.340) and his batting average is expected to take a dive after he comes back to the starting lineup. Brad Hawpe is fifth (.333) and Miguel Tejada is tied with Pujols for sixth (.332). Pujols' batting average is actually below his standards. His best averages were in the 2003 and 2008 seasons with .359 and .357.

The batting Triple Crown has only happened a total of fifteen times, making it one of the rarest feat to accomplish in the history of baseball. The last Triple Crown winner was in 1967 when Boston Red Sox outfielder, Carl Yastrzemski accomplished it. He finished with 44 homeruns, 121 RBI's, and a .326 average. If Pujols is to win the Triple Crown, he would become the sixth player in the National League to do so, and the first one in more than 70 years.