MLB 2011!!

[H Tower]

The first report was that he put it in a refrigerator before delivering it to FedEx. Why is story changing now? It was stupid of the guy who was in charge of getting it to FedEX to assume that FedEx was not open and baseball has to address that issue.

Absolutely. It is inexcusable the period between when the sample was taken and when it was shipped. These samples need to be subject to a chain of custody, and in Braun's case the chain of custody was broken. Hopefully MLB fixes this immediately if it has not already.

Braun won this on a technicality and did not prove that he did not use something.

The level needed to win an appeal is to either prove he did not use something and explain why the test failed, OR to show that the process failed. Having the collector wait 2 days is a failure of process.

The "conspiracy" thing though seems crazy. If there was one would they really do it so it was three times what anyone else had tested? I don't know if he did anything or not but the test seems to prove he was doing something. Unfortunately it can't be re-done and now they have stuff that can be used to help but gets out of system quickly.

I'm not calling it a conspiracy, and I can't explain why he tested 3 times higher than anyone else ever had. But, I can point to the nearly two day delay without a proper chain of custody and say that the right decision was made by the appeals panel.

I'm not a Ryan Braun or Milwaukee Brewers fan, and I hate the players who do test positive and cannot explain why. Baseball messed this one up badly, and they need to own up to it.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I agree. We can't really know anything for sure because of the delay. Though having 3 times the level anyone else ever had made it suspicious to begin with.

Also baseball needs to do something about its leaks. This information (that Braun failed) was never supposed to get out originally until the appeal was heard.

[OzzyKP]

I heard something, somewhere, that Braun had an STD and the meds he was taking for that caused the result. Or something like that.

[H Tower]

I heard something, somewhere, that Braun had an STD and the meds he was taking for that caused the result. Or something like that.

Which he flatly denies. Don't journalists verify information these days before publishing it? Or can I send an email to Jayson Stark saying that Stephen Strausburg is a descendant of Adolf Hitler and hates blacks, jews and the french; and he will say it on the air?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Got this from another forum,

[-Jrabbit]

Oh, and don't have an "off year" this year, Braun. You say it might be different without Prince protecting you?

Hmm. No pressure...

[H Tower]

Baseball adds another wild card team to the playoffs in each league.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/whitesox/chi-mlb-to-add-two-wildcard-teams-to-2012-playoffs-20120229,0,2849070.story

A 1 game playoff before continuing again as usual. This doesn't feel like a victory to me, the wildcard teams are going to use their best Starting Pitcher and then won't have them available to start against their next opponent until late in the series. No more 1st and 5th game starts.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I think that's the plan. Help trip up the Wild Card team as not winning your division isn't supposed to a good thing .

[SlowwHand]

Yeah. This isn't college football.

[rah]

I think that's the plan. Help trip up the Wild Card team as not winning your division isn't supposed to a good thing .

agreed

[EPW]

Yoenis Cespedes walks, singles, and homers in his first major league game. Maybe the A's will be worth watching this year.