THIRD BASE

<b>If <a class="taxInlineTagLink" id="T15007055" title="Major League Baseball" href="/topic/sports/baseball/major-league-baseball-T15007055.topic">MLB</a> was the <a class="taxInlineTagLink" id="ORSPT000122" title="National Collegiate Athletic Association" href="/topic/sports/college-sports/national-collegiate-athletic-association-ORSPT000122.topic">NCAA</a></b>: The difference between the NCAA and Major League Baseball, when it comes to discipline, is that the NCAA makes teams that use illegal players forfeit the games those players appeared in. If that were the case with MLB, the suspension of Oakland pitcher <a class="taxInlineTagLink" id="PESPT001411" title="Bartolo Colon" href="/topic/sports/baseball/bartolo-colon-PESPT001411.topic">Bartolo Colon</a> would cost the <a class="taxInlineTagLink" id="ORSPT000021" title="Oakland Athletics" href="/topic/sports/baseball/oakland-athletics-ORSPT000021.topic">A's</a> 14 victories and knock them out of the wild-card race. It would not seriously advantage any <a class="taxInlineTagLink" id="ORSPT00000154" title="American League East" href="/topic/sports/baseball/american-league-east-ORSPT00000154.topic">AL East</a> team, since the A's beat each team in the division once this year with Colon on the mound, but it would help the <a class="taxInlineTagLink" id="ORSPT00000153" title="American League Central" href="/topic/sports/baseball/american-league-central-ORSPT00000153.topic">AL Central</a> and <a class="taxInlineTagLink" id="ORSPT00000155" title="American League West" href="/topic/sports/baseball/american-league-west-ORSPT00000155.topic">AL West</a> wild-card contenders, so the system is OK the way it is.

( Getty Images / August 22, 2012 )

If MLB was the NCAA: The difference between the NCAA and Major League Baseball, when it comes to discipline, is that the NCAA makes teams that use illegal players forfeit the games those players appeared in. If that were the case with MLB, the suspension of Oakland pitcher Bartolo Colon would cost the A's 14 victories and knock them out of the wild-card race. It would not seriously advantage any AL East team, since the A's beat each team in the division once this year with Colon on the mound, but it would help the AL Central and AL West wild-card contenders, so the system is OK the way it is.

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