The 2022 World Series is almost over. I wonder which game will be watched the most tonight, the Philadelphia versus Houston baseball or football game?
The San Diego Padres were on the verge of making the World Series for the first time since 1998. They made some significant trades at the August 2, 2022, deadline, bringing in two strong hitters and a top-notched closer.
The last piece, Fernando Tatis Jr, was about to come off the injury list. On August 12, 2022, he received an 80-game suspension for using a performance-enhancing drug, making him ineligible for the remainder of the season.
We’ll never know if his availability would have put the Padres over the top.
The drug he used was Clostebol, which as an ointment, he used to treat ringworm. It is a steroid on the WADA banned list. East Germany used the underlying chemicals with their female athletes to reduce estrogen production.
Tatis should have known about the drug’s validity, as major league baseball suspended other players for its use.
I wonder, did the new playoff format favor the teams not receiving byes?
The Astros, Yankees, Braves, and Dodgers did not play a three-game wild card series. These teams were able to rest their pitching staff for five days. However, batters resting that long lose their edge.
The Braves and Dodgers lost one of the first two games at home and were swept on the road. The Yankees took all five games in their Divisional Series to eliminate the Mariners. Only the Astros were not impacted.
One schedule change may help the bye teams. They could be given two scheduling options: two games at home, two games on the road, and one game at home, or two games on the road and three games at home. The latter would not lose a home game getting the rust off.
How come the rested pitchers didn’t have the advantage?
Now I wonder, is the Symbicort I’m taking on the USADA banned list? One of the ingredients, formoterol, has a limit of 54 micrograms per day. If I ever run a USATF event, I may want to get more details.