Manny’s steroid use opens up a whole new box of questions, but the biggest one of all deals with a team he’s not on and season five years ago:

Is the 2004 Championship (and 2007 for that matter) he won with the Boston Red Sox tainted?

100% absolutely NO!

NO

NO

NO

NO

AND NO!!

I’m a Red Sox fan. I’m biased. Even so, I still can’t see how the 2004 Sox’s playoff run was tainted and here’s why:

1. Manny is one player. One important player, yes, but one player nonetheless. Pitching wins championship, not hitting. Schilling was  a horse in the playoffs. You remember Dave Roberts’s steal. You remember Schilling’s bloody sock. You remember Papi’s walk off hits. You don’t point to something about Manny specifically. He played well. He hit well, but by no means did he carry the team. With him off steroids, that 2004 Red Sox team would still have won.
2. Is it really cheating if everyone is doing it? Okay, yes it is, but let’s look at that Yankees’ roster that lost in the ALCS to the Sox in 2004. Alex Rodriguez? Steroids. Gary Sheffield? Steroids. Ruben Sierra? Steroids. Kevin Brown? HGH. Those are the known guys. I don’t doubt that many other players on that team were juicing. That’s not to say anyone else on the Red Sox wasn’ton steroids, but why does Manny taking steroids take anything away from the Red Sox’s playoff run if A-Rod and Sheffield, the Yankees’ sluggers, were both on ‘roids as well? It doesn’t take anything away. The playing field is still even and the Red Sox are still the rightful champions, without an asterisk.
3. Manny wasn’t actually THAT good in the playoffs. He was good. He was real good in the 2004 postseason, but he was not unstoppable. Batting average? .350. On-Base-Percentage? .423. Those are pretty great. Yet, Manny had just two home runs and struck out eleven times. He had just five extra-base hits, but 16 singles. Tell me this, how much do steroids help on singles? If he wasn’t on steroids, he’s still hitting those steroids and probably those home runs (I dont’ know their distances unfortunately). Steroids didn’t make Manny hit well in that postseason, because Manny didn’t hit for power in the 2004 playoffs. Manny made Manny hit those singles, because Manny was born to hit and steroids just added slightly to that. His steroid use doesn’t change a thing.

That’s all pretty straight forward. So far, no player’s steroid use has caused anyone to doubt a team’s success. Keyword: team. Teams win. Players just make up a team and Manny was one player. This shouldn’t even be a debate: The 2004 Boston Red Sox were, are, and forever will be champions.