Regardless of how it ends, when all is said and done and we begin to look back on the Dodgers 2021 regular season, there will be two key moments that will stand out above the many others:

1. When the Dodgers acquired 41-year-old / 21-year MLB veteran first baseman Albert Pujols.
2. When they acquired 32-year-old / seven-year MLB veteran Steven Souza Jr.

Pujols, as you recall, was designated for assignment by the Angels of Anaheim on May 5, 2021, and outright released (dumped) by them on May 13 to create room on their 40-man and 26-man rosters. Exactly four days later, on May 17, Dodgers president of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman signed the undisputed first-ballot future Hall of Famer to a one-year contract for the MLB minimum of $570,500, with Arte Moreno and the Angels paying the balance of the $30 million they owe him for the 2021 season. In other words, the Dodgers acquired the guy who currently sits fifth on MLB’s all-time home run leader board with 672 career home runs (24 behind fourth-place Álex Rodríguez) for basically nothing.

Within hours of arriving in the Dodgers clubhouse, Pujols immediately became a team leader, willingly mentoring the many young players on the Dodgers active roster.

As for Souza, Friedman picked him up as a free agent on March 31, 2021, signing him to a minor league deal and sending him off to Triple-A Oklahoma City. He was called up to the Dodgers this past Wednesday to give the Dodgers a much-needed right-handed bat off the bench and to fill in for a variety of Dodgers currently on the injured list.

Souza joined the team after having recovered from a series of very serious leg and knee injuries that included: a torn ACL, a torn LCL, a partially torn PCL, and a partially torn posterior lateral capsule in his left knee, all of which he suffered on March 25, 2019, when he stepped awkwardly on home plate at Chase Field in Phoenix, AZ. After an extensive recovery and rehab, the veteran corner outfielder, who had long been on Friedman’s radar, agreed to a minor league deal in an attempt to resurrect his professional baseball career.

In the 25 games that Pujols has appeared in with the Dodgers, he is 7-for-71 (.254) with two doubles, five home runs, and 13 RBI. But from a nonquantifiable angle, his value to the team has exceeded everyone’s expectations (undoubtedly including those of Arte Moreno).

In the two games that Souza has appeared in with the Dodgers, he is 2-for-6 (.333) with a single and a game-winning solo home run that he hit on Friday night at (wait for it…) Chase Field in Phoenix, AZ against his former team.

“The last time I touched home plate, it didn’t end well for me,” Souza told reporters after Friday night’s 3-0 Dodgers win over his former team. “So being able to touch it and walk away being up 1–0 was definitely emotional.

“Any time you play old teams, it’s fun to play against them, do well against them,” Souza added. “Honestly, the last moment that I had here wasn’t a great one. I was more fired up I could erase that and put that really in the past and celebrate this one.”

“I followed Steven for years, always admired the way he played from the other side,” Dodger manager Dave Roberts said postgame. “The injury bug has certainly got him, especially here. There’s been a couple things I really remember. For him to come back here to this ballpark and hit a homer, a go-ahead homer, a game-winning homer, I just can’t even imagine the emotions for him, his family. Really excited he’s part of this organization.”

When asked if he was able to get his first Dodger home run ball back (which landed in the Diamondbacks’ bullpen), Souza said that, to this point, he has not, but plans to.

“I didn’t. I probably should. I know they got it over there, but yeah, that’s definitely a good one that I’m going to want to keep,” he answered with a huge smile.

Although 25 and two games respectively are a ridiculously small sample size from which to draw the conclusion that they are game – and season – changers, it would be a bit premature to rule them out as such.

Play Ball!

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