[Big Six]

Here's a little more information from around the baseball universe I've created here:

• Albert Pujols, now 36, just completed his 16th season with the NL champion Cardinals. He is an 11-time All-Star, and he's won six Gold Gloves. Albert won three NL Hitter of the Year awards before Jason Heyward's emergence made it very difficult for anyone else to win the prize. Pujols has hit 614 homers in his career, and he finished the '16 season with 2939 hits. He has scored 1839 runs and driven in 1875, and could end his career among the top 10 in each category if he remains productive for another season or two.
  
  
• Pujols is almost a sure bet to join Alex Rodriguez as the only active players with at least 3000 career hits. A-Rod, now 41, has a career total of 3342, ninth most in MLB history. Alex is clearly nearing the end of the line; will he hang on long enough to hit five more home runs and become the new all-time home run king? He passed Henry Aaron late in the '16 season, and now has 758 career homers.
  
  
• Rodriguez (2216 runs, 2252 RBI) is the only player in history to both score and drive in at least 2200 runs. He needs 46 more runs scored to take the all-time lead in that category. On another note, only Reggie Jackson struck out more times than A-Rod, who's gone down on strikes 2535 times.
  
  
• A-Rod's long-time teammate, Derek Jeter, retired at the end of the 2014 season with 3313 hits. He also scored 1883 runs, 12th most in history.
  
  
• Besides Rodriguez, the active player with the best shot at getting 3000 hits is probably Miguel Cabrera of the Reds, who has 2329 hits at age 33.
  
  
• Chipper Jones (2659) won't make it; he's 44 and only gets a few hits a year now. Chipper also has 445 career homers, and over 1500 runs scored and RBI with a lifetime average of .305.
  
  
• Jimmy Rollins (2573) is losing his skills at age 37; he's probably going to fall short, too. In fact, J-Roll didn't even spend the entire '16 season in the major leagues.
  
  
• If the Detroit Tigers' hulking first baseman, Adam Dunn, can hold on a little longer, he'll make history when he smacks his 500th career home run. Dunn, 36, went deep only 14 times in '16, and hit .208. He also tips the scales at a hearty 289 pounds now, too. However, he's lighter than CC Sabathia, who is now trying to fill up his 307-pound body on a minor league per diem.
  
  
• Mark Texiera of the Yankees is the same age as Dunn, but is in much better condition, and with 458 career home runs and much of his talent still intact, is actually a better bet to join the 500 club.
  
  
• Miguel Cabrera, with 419, should also manage to reach this milestone. So should Prince Fielder, who's gone yard 396 times at age 32.
  
  
• On the other hand, Ryan Howard, also 36, probalby won't make it; he has 407 homers and is riding the bench for the Rockies.
  
  
• The winningest active pitcher is Javier Vazquez of the Orioles, who has 219 career wins at age 40. Vazquez is now the Orioles' closer, however, so his wins total won't change much.
  
  
• Several pitchers retired since the beginning of my dynasty with at least 200 career wins. They include Jamie Moyer (260), Andy Pettite (240), Pedro Martinez (223), and John Smoltz (213).
  
  
• Roy Halladay isn't technically retired yet, but he didn't pitch at all in 2016 and appears doomed to finish his career with 197 wins.
  
  
• Among the pitchers who, barring a run of bad luck, could win 200 games are Tim Lincecum of the Giants (156 wins, age 32), Chad Billingsley of the Royals (148 wins, age 32), Jon Lester of the Phillies (147 wins, age 32), Felix Hernandez of the Brewers (142 wins, age 30), Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals (141 wins, age 35), and Cole Hamels of the Dodgers (137 wins, age 32).
  
  
• Vazquez is the only active pitcher with 3000 career strikeouts; he's whiffed 3095. Lincecum, with 2243 at age 30, should pass that milestone easily and end his career among the top ten strikeout artists of all time. King Felix, with 1982 at 30, should do the same.
  
  
• Six of the all-time leaders in saves have been active during this dynasty: Trevor Hoffman (598), Mariano Rivera (565), Billy Wagner (431), Joe Nathan (382), Francisco Rodriguez (371), and Jonathan Papelbon (362). How cool is it that Tom Haley has been a teammate of THREE of them--Wagner, K-Rod, and Papelbon?
  
  
• Nathan, Rodriguez, and Papelbon are all still active. None of the three is his team's closer, however. Brian Fuentes is, however, the Indians' closer, and he's got 332 saves at age 40.
  
  
• Two closers have over 300 saves at age 32: the Royals' Joakim Soria (332) and the Phillies' Jonathan Broxton (315). Broxton, incidentally, now has more saves than pounds of weight; he weighs 297. And keep your eye on the Red Sox' Chad Smith, who has racked up 153 saves by age 27.