Baseball’s hangover from the so-called steroids era is about to enter an intriguing new phase.
One prominent player from that shameful era is about to fall off the Hall of Fame ballot forever. Two others with, at most, tenuous connections to PED use might actually get the call to Cooperstown.
Meanwhile, Hall of Fame voters' attention is pivoting hard toward consideration of advanced metrics, and that likely will significantly impact several newcomers' chances of election.
Here's how it might play out:
In January, when the 2016 Hall of Fame voting results are announced and Mark McGwire’s name again is not called, his eligibility for election by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America will have expired.