The St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Angels will make a bit of history on Tuesday in the first of their three-game series at Busch Stadium. The game will reportedly represent the first time that the Cardinals and Angels will go head-to-head without Albert Pujols being in either lineup, per the Angels PR and Wayne Randazzo.

This is truly a remarkable bit of information. The Angels are a relatively new franchise, at least from a baseball perspective (the game has been around since the 1800's), with the Halos being established in 1961. Nevertheless, one would have likely imagined that the Angels and the Red Birds played each other at some point prior to the 2001 season given St. Louis' long and storied history. According to Statmuse, the Angels and Cardinals first played each other on June 18, 2002, a game the Cardinals won 7-2.

Pujols made his MLB debut in 2001 with the Cardinals, and retired following the 2022 campaign. He spent 12 years in St. Louis and 11 in Anaheim. He also played for the Los Angeles Dodgers during the second-half of 2021, but the Angels and Cardinals didn't play each other that season.

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Albert Pujols is unquestionably headed to the Hall of Fame when he becomes eligible. The only question is which team he will go in with. His best years came as a Cardinal, so rolling with St. Louis may be the best choice. However, it will be a difficult decision since he spent so much time with the Angels as well.

First pitch for Tuesday's Angels-Cardinals game is scheduled for 7:45 PM EST.