On July 22nd, 2013, Milwaukee Brewers slugger Ryan Braun was suspended for 65 games, the remainder of the season, for testing positive for steroids. Days later, it was revealed that Braun was only the tip of the iceberg in one of the greatest steroid scandals in sports history. Braun and thirteen other various MLB players had been going to a clinic in Florida, Biogenesis of America, which was giving them “anti-aging” steroids. Twelve of them, one of which was a pitcher for the Phillies, were handed down 50-game suspensions, which none of them appealed. The fourteenth was not reprimended.

New York Yankees third basemen Alex Rodriguez, admitted steroid user and famed home-run hitter, was using this clinic. Since he had used steroids multiple times and tried to cover them up, Rodriguez received a 211-game ban, but appealed this ban so he could play while his case was being decided.

First of all, Rodriguez should have just taken the suspension then and there. He had no reason to appeal, just to finish out the season. The Yankees were never in playoff contention so the games were basically meaningless. Now, his trial will be conducted in the offseason. If the ban is upheld, depending on if the Yankees make next year’s postseason; and, if so, Rodriguez will be suspended for all of next season and 29-49 games of the 2015 season.

Rodriguez could have taken the ban and missed 52 games so he would be back at game 110 of next season – at the start of the playoff race. He could have made an impact, but now, the Yankees have slipped that much farther from next year’s postseason. What was Rodriguez even trying to prove? That he had the power to appeal, that he is that big of a deal?

Rodriguez has six law firms and two PR firms trying to prove that the Yankees and the MLB are trying to take away as much of his $275 million contract as possible. You know what? They should. Alex Rodriguez has cheated so many times that he deserves a harsh penalty, loss of contract, or a lifetime ban. Players with steroid bans still get to keep part of their salary while they sit out. This is completely unfair. The current penalties do not discourage further steroid use because, although they cannot play, it does not hit them where it really hurts. It does not impact their income.

The main allure of major league sports is the ridiculous overpaying salaries. If you take that away, it makes a much bigger impact on the player. Also, suspensions themselves should be harsher. They should all be lifetime bans. They are cheating to win and that is by no means okay. We cannot give cheaters a second and a third chance; they have to pay for their unwise decisions. Olympic sprinters have been given lifetime bans, and Lance Armstrong was banned forever from cycling. Other sports correctly crack down, but why not baseball?

In 1919, after the Chicago White Sox lost the World Series to the heavy underdog Cincinnati Reds, it was discovered that eight players of the White Sox were paid by gamblers to deliberately lose the World Series. These players were all given lifetime bans, and the “Black Sox Scandal” remains a black spot in the pages of baseball history. These players cheated to win money, and they were thrown out. Players who cheat to win baseball games should be thrown out as well.