With summer almost upon us, the MLB season is in full swing, pardon the pun, and this week it’s produced action both on and off the field. In a surprise feature on ESPN this morning, it came to the fore that the league is looking into lengthy suspensions of about 20 players connected to a Miami-area clinic embroiled in a performance-enhancing drug scandal.
Players under investigation include MLB superstars Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun, and if the league followed through on punishments, it would seem to be a turn toward confronting doping in baseball in a profound way. If players are found to be doping, what’s a fair punishment?
Also breaking this morning, a judge ruled that former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt and current club ownership can’t keep details of their financial relationship secret. But odds are Dodgers fans aren’t too distraught by the news, because, after a lackluster beginning to their season, a star in the making has suddenly arrived in the dugout by the name of Yasiel Puig. The Cuban connected on three of his four at bats last night against the San Diego Padres, and the result was a double, a solo homerun, and a two-run homer that pushed the Dodgers safely past the Padres, 9-7. Can Puig save the Dodgers?