[molson]

I'm just not sure they players care about winning and losing the way loyal fans do. A fan roots for a single team for life, a player passes through a team for a year or two and is working towards their next contract. The union, by their mandate, is working towards that end. They oppose drug testing, player discipline for cheating, competitive balance measures, etc. The goal isn't a fair and even playing field, it's maximizing the revenue of their playing days. That's not a criticism, players have short careers and most of them are a bad year or an injury away from having to find another way to make a living. They'd much rather beat the owners than beat whatever team they're playing that day.

If they perceive their individual careers being impacted - (which they didn't seem to regarding steroids for whatever reason), then I can see more caring about that. But players only had to play the Astros so often. So you can see how that especially stung a player whose 1 big shot was against them and got lit up.