By staff contributor, Michael Nazzaro
Today, the MLB announced that one the Tampa Bay Rays’ top prospects, Alex Colome, was suspended for PED. use. This is following the whole Biogenesis stuff from last season, which followed, well, countless other times where you find out the players you grew up idolizing cheated their way to baseball history. As a lifelong baseball fan, it’s disappointing.
I understand it. Well, I understand the best I can. I don’t play in the MLB, however I know it’s incredibly competitive and that while there are hundreds, thousands, of players laying in wait in the minors, only 25 guys are a major league roster. It’s an extremely clogged funnel and only the strongest break through, so any edge one gets, well hey, that’s baseball Suzyn.
But it sucks. For the lack of better word to describe it, it sucks. Maybe I’m the minority, but I love baseball for the skill it takes to play. I don’t need 70 home runs, I want a nail-biting chess match that ends 1-0. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love a good blowout as much as the next guy, but close games are far more interesting.
I love the walk off win. What’s more exciting that being last guy up, 2 outs, bottom of the 9th, game tied and you get a ball in your wheelhouse and drive it. Whether it be over the fence or in the gap, it’s incredibly exciting.
This is why I fell in love with baseball. This is why I continue to love it. This is why I play it still. It just may be the only sport I wholly love because it doesn’t only involve athletic skill, but also a whole lot of strategy. It involves looking and stats, and numbers, and tendencies. A MLB manager can be criticized for not putting that one reliever in against that one hitter that always hits poorly against side-winding lefties who through a lot of breaking stuff. A hitter can lauded for finding the pitch they never hit and taking it long. I love that it’s difficult. I love that it’s not football, where you can be fat and wide and push guys and be on major football team. I like that it’s not basketball where all you have to be is tall and you can be a bench rider in the NBA. There are so many levels of strategy that come into it.
So screw PED’s. Screw Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, and Jose Conseco. Screw Tony Bosch and every player involved in the Biogenesis scandal. Super screw A-Rod. And screw Alex Colome. Stop making baseball into a joke. If you’re good, you’ll get there. If you can’t hack it, maybe baseball isn’t for you. But please, please stop with all the steroids, especially ones that are for horses.