MLB and Players Agree to Heightened PED Penalties
This content is curated from another blog into my own ideas
The MLB and its players have agreed to create harsher penalties for PED users. The penalties for first offense are being raised from a ban of 60 to 80 games, the second from 100 to 162 games, and the third offense will remain at a lifetime ban from the game.
In another change, if a player is caught using during the season, he can no longer participate in any postseason play for that year, no matter when the suspension ends.
It’s clear now more than ever that the players and the MLB as a whole are working ultimately to prevent PED use completely, and in the meantime, their goal is to weed out of their game those users that still remain.
The coverage of PED’s has been a huge media issue going all the way back to 2001, and recently Johnny Peralta, Alex Rodriguez, and Ryan Braun are just some of the big names that have been part of the ongoing PED controversy.
Getting rid of PEDs is obviously the way to create a cleaner game, and the MLB has now taken strong and direct action to prevent illegal substance abuse once and for all.
I believe that the media coverage of the PEDs issue last year, especially with Alex Rodriguez, is at the center of the action the MLB has taken. The MLB does not want the bad reputation of a dirty game. Nonetheless, some players still may risk ruining their careers by using PEDs.
The MLB also does not want the coverage of such drug abuse to negatively influence younger ahtletes who might use illegal substances because they know it will improve their performance. PEDs now will be less of an issue for the MLB, or so they hope, because the league will be less subject to media coverage on this issue.
These rule changes are very important for the MLB players and the MLB itself because I believe with these kinds of rules and penalties in place, we will see fewer and fewer PED users, and thus there will be far less need for media coverage.
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