I'm sure Albert is all about the prayers, the training and the vitamins.

Max is only guilty of saying the quiet part loud.

yet_another_wumpus: Straight Outta Wells Branch: I'm sure Albert is all about the prayers, the training and the vitamins.

Max is only guilty of saying the quiet part loud.

Two separate issues:

1.  people won't pay as much to watch cheaters cheat as pretend their sportsball is pure.
2.  What are the side effects of these wonderdrugs and why are they banned from both sports and real life?

Of all the major sports, baseball gets the least benefit of the doubt. We've read this bedtime story before. Home run chases get people's interest, and it coincidentally happens at a time when baseball desperately needs a public attention boost.

Baseball has been floundering a long time now plagued by bottom-feeder teams like Pittsburgh which frankly don't belong as an MLB club, the pace of the game, and a game utterly overrun by statistics that have made the game all about HRs, strikeouts and not much else.

I love baseball. It's perhaps my favorite sport. But I'm under absolutely no illusion that it's dying a slow death. If baseball turns a blind eye to Albert Pujols or Aaron Judge hitting the juice, as long as it gets some much needed eyeballs on the game, well...it's not the first time this happened.

As for the second question, the steroids that McGwire, Sosa, Bonds, etc were taking are far more refined that what you saw from 1970s football players or 1980s pro wrestlers. Game of Shadows, the book about Balco which was the lab that Bonds was getting the cream and the clear from, were engineered in a far more healthy fashion than the stuff that Lyle Alzado or Randy Savage were taking.

Put it this way. More time has elapsed from when McGwire, Sosa and Bonds were taking roids to present day than the time Alzado, Savage, etc took steroids to their deaths. If major side effects were to come along, it would have happened by now.

The reason is they are illegal is because of the performance-enhancing aspect, not from a health perspective.

The Bestest: Straight Outta Wells Branch: If baseball turns a blind eye to Albert Pujols or Aaron Judge hitting the juice, as long as it gets some much needed eyeballs on the game, well...it's not the first time this happened.

Counterpoint: do you not think Judge is probably one of the most tested guys in the league right now, ESPECIALLY in a contract year and as the rest of the Yankees collapsed around him all through August?

Not at all. In fact, given MLB's track record, he's perhaps the least tested guys. It's in baseball's best interests to see Judge surpass Maris so baseball can be talked about in glowing terms.

If they find out something fishy, they'd have to suspend him and lose not just the publicity but all the advertisers aligned with Judge.

The Bestest: Straight Outta Wells Branch: The Bestest: Straight Outta Wells Branch: If baseball turns a blind eye to Albert Pujols or Aaron Judge hitting the juice, as long as it gets some much needed eyeballs on the game, well...it's not the first time this happened.

Counterpoint: do you not think Judge is probably one of the most tested guys in the league right now, ESPECIALLY in a contract year and as the rest of the Yankees collapsed around him all through August?

Not at all. In fact, given MLB's track record, he's perhaps the least tested guys. It's in baseball's best interests to see Judge surpass Maris so baseball can be talked about in glowing terms.

If they find out something fishy, they'd have to suspend him and lose not just the publicity but all the advertisers aligned with Judge.

I'm just not seeing it.
Bear in mind, not only is this a contract year, he turned down $230M/7 before the season started. So not only would be be under the microscope, it'd be pretty silly of him to bet on himself by turning down a guaranteed payday only to jeopardize it all by taking PEDs.

....besides, it's not like this is unexpected performance. You may have noticed, but the guy is -huge- and he's always had this power. What's changed is he's a LOT more disciplined at the plate than he was in the past and he's refined his swing; neither of which PEDs help with. He's also managed to keep himself off the IL this year compared to prior seasons, so he's had a lot more PAs.

My broader point is that it's not in MLB's best interests to test either Judge or Pujols. Far better for everyone to watch baseball down the stretch with home run chases in play than to worry about what they are peeing in a cup.

MLB, in general, hasn't earned the benefit of the doubt on this subject given the fact that virtually every recent historic HR plateau has been marred in some way (A-Rod, Bonds, Sosa, McGwire, etc).

Factor in how little the Astros were punished, and you have an organization that has earned the reputation of shrugging off cheaters.

It might not be fair to Judge or Pujols, but when you look at where they are, and how  MLB has long had a habit of going blind at the absolute correct time, it's not out of line to question the results.