The Show.

As we close in on this year's MLB playoffs it's important to look back at positive aspects of the year's regular season, and the most notable aspect (to me at least) was the pitching. It has been a while since we've seen such a dominant season from the mound. 5 no-hitters were thrown this year, 2 of which were perfect games. Actually, there were 6 no-hitter's in my book, but unfortunately my book is different from the history books. The last time there were at least 5 no-hitters in a season was all the way back in 1991, and while it's evident that this year was a special year for major league pitching in general, it's the timing of this historic season makes it that that much more significant.

For the past decade the issues of baseball have mostly been a result of players - power hitters in particular - taking steroids. The game's integrity has been, and still is, put into question because of a player's ability to gain an unfair advantage by using illegal substances. The solutions to steroid-related issues have spanned but there is no way to eliminate the statistics a player accumulates whether on steroids or not, and because of this absence of a resolution it has been unclear whether an end could be put to steroids. Its also been unclear, if an end could not be reached, which direction steroids and the players who used them would steer the future of baseball. The past decade has been riddled with many issues stemming from steroid use, but this year has been a major victory for baseball in the sense that what has dominated the media hasn't been steroid use, but rather pitching. The overall statistics of pitchers may or may not be similar to years past, but it's important to recognize that the attention of the baseball community has been somewhat steered away from the presence of illegal substances in the game - a focus which has become the norm for many fans. In fact, when Armando Galarraga was stripped of a perfect game by a bad call it seemed to stir more emotion than when A-Rod hit his 600th home run, a feat that only a few have ever achieved. People were angry that Galarraga didn't get what he deserved, and they simply didn't care when A-Rod hit his 600th because they all knew it was a tainted achievement. To me, this restores my faith in the integrity of baseball and its fans. It's clear that people - the media, fans, etc - want to see players succeed if they deserve to succeed. It's easy to think that steroids will inevitably invade and conquer the record books, but this year has been a refreshing one in the sense that the success has come from the mound rather than the plate where said success has been and is, at times, tainted, as in A-Rod's case with his 600th home run. Now of course pitchers can do steroids as well, and as far as I know the pitcher's who have had success this year may have steroids to credit, but at the moment it seems as if most pitchers - namely those who have thrown no-hitters this year - are clean.

The important part of this year - the part that people should remember, regardless of stats and speculations - is that it was a year not dominated by what has become regular attacks on the integrity of baseball. We, as fans, have become used to instances of cheating in the game, but a victory has been won for baseball and its fans this year as we learned that although cheating may always be part of the game, it doesn't have to define the game.