Albert Pujols hit his first major league home run on April 6, 2001. Since then, he has homered off 449 different pitchers in the regular season, in 40 different parks, with 12 walk-off home runs along the way. His return to St. Louis has turned into an unexpected magical ride these past few weeks — he's hitting .405 with 10 home runs since July 6 — and now he's just seven home runs away from joining Barry Bonds, Henry Aaron and Babe Ruth with 700 in his career.

Pujols says he's not counting, instead simply saying, "I'm the grandpa in the clubhouse. I'm having a great time."

He may not be counting, but we are. His chase for 700 is one of the more exciting things to watch these final weeks of the season. But it's not the only one. Here are some of the top storylines to pay attention to as we head toward October.

1. Pujols going for 700 home runs

I did not foresee Pujols' return to the St. Louis Cardinals turning into one of the feel-good stories of the season, let alone project him to having a legitimate shot at reaching 700 home runs with 40 games remaining. No, when the Cardinals reunited with Pujols, I had visions of Ken Griffey Jr.'s final season in Seattle in 2010, when Griffey played 33 games, didn't hit a home run and quietly walked away at the end of May.

For much of the season, it looked like the Cardinals might have to eventually face a decision on whether to cut bait with the future Hall of Famer. After going 0-for-2 on July 4, Pujols' average was down to .189 and he had hit .154 over his previous 65 at-bats. Then, at age 42, Pujols somehow suddenly turned the clock back to 2001. He had three hits against the Phillies on July 10 while filling in for Paul Goldschmidt at first base, including a home run and a single in the eighth that led to the winning run in a 4-3 victory. Two days later, he homered in a 7-6 victory over the Dodgers. He had three hits, including a home run, in Toronto on July 27. In Colorado on Aug. 10, he went 4-for-5 with a home run. His average was up to .244.

Then came one of the most remarkable weeks of Pujols' career. In five games from Aug. 14 through Aug. 20, he went 9-for-16 with five home runs and 11 RBIs:

Aug. 14: Two home runs against the Brewers, including a three-run shot in the eighth to turn a 3-2 lead into a 6-2 advantage.

"To see him do these incredible things and you hear the crowd react, he's just giving the people what they want," Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas said after that game. "It doesn't get any better than that."

Aug. 18: A third-inning, pinch-hit grand slam against the Rockies for the 690th home run of his career — and 16th grand slam.

"He looks the same as when he left to me," Adam Wainwright, the winning pitcher in that game, said. "This is what he's supposed to look like, here, this stadium, doing these things."

Aug. 20: Pujols went 4-for-4 with two home runs against the Diamondbacks, the 46th four-hit game of his career and his first 4-for-4 game since 2016. He became the oldest player with a four-hit, two-homer game and it was his 64th multihomer game (not including his three-homer game in the World Series) as he passed Stan Musial into second place on the all-time list for total bases.

Pujols' at-bats have become must-watch events and not just for Cardinals fans. After years of floundering with the Angels — he had a below-average OPS his final five seasons there — he's figured out a way to go out in style. He homered again on Monday — No. 693, in a 1-0 victory over the Cubs, the Cardinals' eighth in a row. He's three away from tying Alex Rodriguez for fourth on the all-time list and seven from that big, round 700. He's hitting .277/.351/.530 — his highest OPS since 2011. It's amazing stuff.

Can he get to 700? The biggest issue is that he's not a regular starter — and shouldn't be. He's hitting .398/.436/.807 against lefties, but just .184/.285/.316 against right-handers. The Cardinals have primarily used him as the platoon DH against left-handed starters and that's the correct role; rookies Nolan Gorman and Brendan Donovan are both better options against right-handers. So that means Pujols may only get another 15 starts or so the rest of the season, depending on how often manager Oliver Marmol spots him against righties.

There will be some pinch-hitting opportunities in there, and if the Cardinals continue to pull away from the Brewers, maybe a few more starts down the stretch if he's getting close. He's going to have to stay hot and even then it will probably go down to the wire.