More Fallout From Manny and Papi

Stop. Everybody stop.

I'm tired of hearing fans and even some members of the media say that the revelations about David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez in yesterday's New York Times somehow taint the Red Sox World Series titles in 2004 and 2007.

The Red Sox won the World Series in those years with at least two players (you and I both know it was more than just those two) who used performance enhancing drugs. Guess what? So did the 2008 Phillies, the 2006 Cardinals, 2005 White Sox, 2003 and 1997 Marlins, 2002 Angels, 2001 Diamondbacks, 2000, 1999, 1998 and 1996 Yankees, and 1995 Braves.

Every team over the last decade and a half had many, many players who used PEDs. And while the Red Sox won the title in 2004 and 2007, the awful Pirates of the same years also had multiple players using PEDs.

If you read the Mitchell Report, (and I've read all 409 pages because I'm a LOSER), what you will find are players from each and every team, from every year from the mid 1990s to now. So when the Yankees were great, they had guys on the juice. And when the Rays were terrible and were getting pounded by those Yankee teams, they had guys on the juice too.

Steroids have altered the validity of individual records, but team accomplishments all took place on a level (tainted) playing field. Because of this, while individual players and reputations may be sullied, each team's win/loss record and achievements rest just out of reach of the stain of steroids.