Albert Pujols moved into sole possession of 4th place on the all-time home run list on Sunday when he hit his 697th in Pittsburgh against the Pirates in a 4-3 victory for the Cardinals. After an off-day on Monday, Pujols will play his next 6 games at home in St. Louis and the weather (and Home Run Forecast Index) will become increasingly favorable for hitting home runs as the week progresses. The first two games of the home stand will be against the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday and Wednesday and then the Reds will be in St. Louis for a four-game series from Thursday through Sunday.
The off-day on Monday actually featured a touch of fall in St. Louis as a vigorous upper-level low pressure system was spinning slowly eastward over the Upper Midwest and confining high temperatures generally to the upper 70’s in much of Missouri. This same upper-level low will shift eastward over the next 48 hours and temperatures will gradually rise in St. Louis to highs in the middle 80’s by mid-week, the upper 80’s late in the week, and then to near 90 degrees on both weekend days.
As the temperature gradually climbs between Tuesday and Sunday, the Home Run Forecast Index will likely do so as well for St. Louis – indicative of more and more favorable weather conditions for hitting home runs; especially, by the time we get to Sunday, September 18th in where a day game is scheduled.
Keep tabs with “homerunforecast.com” in coming days to monitor the Home Run Forecast Index for St. Louis as the chase for 700 by Albert Pujols could become very interesting with the weather becoming increasingly favorable for hitting home runs.
Meteorologist Paul Dorian