The St. Louis Cardinals may have stopped Prince Fielder's Brewers in the NLCS last year, but during the 2012 Home Run Derby the slugger, now with the Detroit Tigers, established himself as a dominant figure in at least one facet of Missouri baseball, winning the I-70 series with matching victories in Kansas City and during 2009's St. Louis-based All-Star Break. Carlos Beltran, Missouri's sole entrant after Robinson Cano snubbed Billy Butler and was booed for his trouble, failed to advance past the second round, finishing the contest with 12 home runs.
Fielder's outstanding performance masks a less-than-stellar start to his career as a Tiger; he hit just 15 home runs in the first half of the regular season, for a .299/.380/.505 line. The .885 OPS would continue an evens-odds streak of the type that made Reggie Sanders famous; over the last six years he's had an OPS+ between 130 and 139 in even years, and over 150 in odd years.
But now he's won two Home Run Derbies. And when you're employing Prince Fielder, whose primary offensive skills are hitting home runs and drawing walks in part because of all the home runs he hits, that has to be at least a little reassuring.