D12 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2019 LATIMES.COM/SPORTS
comment publicly on them.
The discussions reflect in part
the national trend toward legaliza-
tion of marijuana, even as it remains
on the federal register of controlled
substances. According to the Mari-
juana Policy Project, 11 states have
legalized marijuana for recreational
purposes, 33 states have done so for
medicinal purposes, and 26 states
have decriminalized marijuana.
The talks could determine
whether major and minor leaguers
would be allowed to use marijuana
at all times, to recover from particu-
lar injuries, or for general pain man-
agement.
Fentanyl killed more than 31,000
people in the United States last
year. Amid the national opioid cri-
sis, the league and the union would
like to learn whether marijuana
might offer a reasonable and re-
sponsible option in pain manage-
ment.
Representatives from owners
and players are expected to solicit
input from the medical community
on the effects and effectiveness of
marijuana — and of CBD, a sub-
stance derived from the cannabis
plant that contains a tiny amount of
THC, the psychoactive compound
that produces the high among mari-
juana users. CBD can be used in
creams, gels and gummies, and pro-
ponents say it can reduce pain with-
out side effects.
Jon Coyles, MLB vice president
of drug, health and safety programs,
advised major and minor league
players in a March 14 memo that
CBD, like marijuana, was a banned
substance. Coyles warned that play-
ers could test positive for marijuana
by using a CBD product.
“Claims of CBD products being
‘THC free’ are false and misleading,”
Coyles wrote. “We have seen multi-
ple positive drug tests ... in the past
year for THC that appear to have re-
sulted from the use of CBD prod-
ucts, despite the product labels.”
Under current policy, opioids
and marijuana are classified as
“drugs of abuse” and banned from
the sport. However, major league
players are not routinely tested for
drugs of abuse, only for perform-
ance-enhancing drugs.
In the minor leagues, where the
union does not represent players,
testing is conducted for opioids and
marijuana, among other drugs. A
first positive test remains confiden-
tial, with players referred to coun-
seling and treatment programs.
Any subsequent positive test trig-
gers a suspension.
Thirteen minor league players
were suspended for marijuana this
season, the league said, with multi-
ple positive tests necessary for a
suspension. Overall, about 80% of
the positive tests for drugs of abuse
were for marijuana. Also, about 80%
of the suspensions for drugs of
abuse were for marijuana. One of
the suspensions was for opioids.
In the majors, opioid and mari-
juana testing is conducted only with
reasonable cause, or as part of a
treatment program.
Halem said the league does not
believe it has an opioid problem.
Players can obtain short-term
doses from surgeons following oper-
ations, but team doctors are forbid-
den from prescribing or dispensingopioids. The league depends on a
team’s medical staff and other
trained employees to report suspi-
cious behavior that could provide
reasonable cause for testing.
“Controlled substances are diffi-
cult to regulate in a team environ-
ment, so we decided not to use
them,” Halem said. “In terms of illic-
it use of opioids, we haven’t heard
that much.”
Still, investigators have yet to say
how they believe Skaggs acquired
the opioids that killed him. The
Drug Enforcement Agency is inves-
tigating. So is the police depart-
ment in Southlake, Texas, the city
where Skaggs died on an Angelstrip, and Rusty Hardin, the attorney
retained by Skaggs’ family.
Halem said the league investiga-
tion is on hold.
“We are not going to do anything
until law enforcement is done,” he
said. “Whatever the facts are, the
facts are. And then we’ll handle it
appropriately.”
On Aug. 30, when autopsy results
revealed that Skaggs choked to
death with fentanyl, oxycodone and
alcohol in his system, the Skaggs
family issued a statement that said
in part: “We were shocked to learn
that [Skaggs’ death] may involve an
employee of the Los Angeles An-
gels.”The family has not publicly
shared evidence to support that
claim. Hardin said Wednesday the
family remains concerned but inves-
tigators need to complete their
work.
“We want to stay on the sidelines
and not get in the way of any law en-
forcement investigation that might
be going on,” he said, “and we are as
anxious to find out what happened
as anyone else.”
When pitcher Nick Adenhart
died 10 years ago, killed by a drunk
driver, the Angels mourned for the
balance of the season, but they
knew what had happened to their
friend and teammate, and how and
why.
The Angels are in the unsettling
position of knowing what happened
to Skaggs, but not how and why, and
what investigators eventually deter-
mine could be announced in weeks
or months, or even after the team
has assembled anew next spring.
“Everyone, including our organi-
zation, wants answers,” Angels
spokeswoman Marie Garvey said.
“Our focus is on cooperating with
the ongoing investigations that will
help accomplish that.”
Blanks, now a partner in a com-
pany that sells CBD products, did
not know Skaggs, but he could not
help but wonder whether marijuana
might have prevented him from tak-
ing opioids. Blanks did know that
Skaggs had undergone surgery dur-
ing his career, and because of that
Blanks suspected that he had been
exposed to opioids before the day he
died.
“No different for me,” Blanks
said. “I woke up every time.”Marijuana could be on the table for pain management
[MLB, from D3]
WHEN HIS CAREERdeteriorated because of injuries, Kyle
Blanks turned to alcohol, then opioids, to help with the pain.Ross D. FranklinAssociated PressBASEBALL
AJ Hinch sat in the visiting dug-
out at Angel Stadium a week ago
and was asked what it was like to
manage a Houston Astros rotation
led by a likely Hall of Fame candi-
date and a 29-year-old right-
hander burnishing his own Coop-
erstown credentials.
“It’s great,” said Hinch, now in
his fifth year at the helm of the
three-time AL West champions.
Then he elaborated.
“I would like to squash the no-
tion that it’s just plug and play,” he
said. “When we roll out a starting
pitcher every night that we feel can
beat the opponent, that’s a great
luxury in this job. I guess I haven’t
thought about what it’s like. It’s
great. It’s great to win. It’s great to
have a competitive advantage from
the very beginning. But it doesn’t
mean we don’t do anything.”
The Astros are known for their
advanced thinking and ability to
turn around a pitcher’s career. Cy
Young Award candidate Justin
Verlander, for instance, gained ex-
tra spin on his pitches and did
away with his sinking fastball when
he came over from the Detroit Ti-
gers. Fellow Cy Young candidate
Gerrit Cole dramatically improved
his breaking pitches after being
traded from Pittsburgh. After a
horrendous start to his 2019 cam-
paign, Aaron Sanchez was ac-
quired from Toronto at the trade
deadline and threw six scoreless
innings in a combined no-hitter in
his first outing with the Astros.
Sanchez has since been sidelined
because of shoulder surgery.
The Astros, who led baseball
with 107 regular-season victories,
are so deep — they have an MLB-
leading on-base-plus-slugging per-
centage (.848) keyed by Alex Breg-
man’s career year and rookie Yor-
dan Alvarez’s torrid start as well as
the second-lowest staff ERA (3.66)
— that getting past them to book a
ticket for the World Series will be a
tremendous undertaking.
There are, of course, three
teams that will try. The shrewd
Tampa Bay Rays won the AL wild
card Wednesday to earn a first-
round draw against the American
League’s most intimidating rota-
tion and offense. They do not pos-
sess the offensive firepower to rival
the Astros, but they rank up there
with Houston in ERA (3.67) and al-
lowed the fewest home runs (181) in
baseball.
Still, the most formidable team
in the way of the Astros’ second AL
pennant in three years resides in
the Bronx. The New York Yankees
built themselves up to be a big
threat in spite of the bevy of in-
juries that forced them to rely on
journeymen surprises Gio Urshela
and Mike Tauchman. The pair
boosted an offense that produced
the most runs (943), the fourth-
highest batting average (.267) and
third-highest OPS (.829) in base-
ball.
Young ace Luis Severino missed
most of the season recovering frominjuries, yet the Yankees took the
hit to their rotation by relying on a
stalwart bullpen. New York’s relief
corps features four pitchers with
absurd strikeout rates. Tommy
Kahnle, Adam Ottavino and closer
Aroldis Chapman each fanned at
least 85 batters. Zack Britton had a
1.91 ERA and held opponents to a
minuscule .182 average over 66
games.
“Even when I got to spring
training, just looking at the team,
at that time it felt like an over-
whelming amount of talent, to be
totally honest,” said Ottavino, the
former Colorado Rockies closer.
“Especially offensively. Pitching
[was there]. But offensively it was
just crazy for me to see it. And then
along the way we picked up
[Edwin] Encarnacion, and Tauch-
man came up and did great. Ur-
shela did great, and it just seemed
to kind of compound itself. “So, I
did know from the beginning, but I
guess I still underestimated the
depth.”
The Yankees, however, might be
more vulnerable in the playoffs
than they were in the regular sea-
son, when they won 103 games.
They will be without Domingo Ger-
man, who led the rotation with 16
wins and was ruled out of the post-
season while the league investi-
gates domestic violence allega-
tions made against him.
The AL Central champion Min-
nesota Twins could take advan-
tage in the ALDS. They posted 101
wins behind a strong starting staff
and had five players slug at least 30
home runs on their way to an MLB
record 307-homer season.
That said, they only narrowly
edged the 306-home run Yankees.
“Adversity is good for you,” Brit-
ton said. “If it comes too easy,
sometimes you can get lackadaisi-
cal. I always find that if you have to
fight for something, it makes it
more worth it again. And I think,
obviously, we have a high payroll
and all that other stuff. But we’ve
gone through some adversity.
“We haven’t been healthy all
year as a team. So I think it makes
guys kind of put their heads in a lit-
tle bit more and push harder. I
think maybe if we had a healthy
roster, we would have felt like we
could out-talent teams. You nor-
mally see the best out of players
when their backs are against the
wall.”Astros’ deep team
gives them the nod
But the wild-card Rays and
division winners Yankees
and Twins are formidable
foes heading into ALDS.
By Maria TorresALEX BREGMAN, who has
hit 41 home runs this season, is
key to Astros’ potent lineup.Eric Christian SmithAssociated PressSt. Louis AB R H BI Avg.
Fowler rf 4 1 1 1 .250
Edman 3b 5 1 2 0 .400
Gldsdt 1b 4 2 2 1 .500
Ozuna lf 4 1 2 2 .500
Molina c 4 0 0 0 .000
DeJong ss 4 1 2 0 .500
Wong 2b 4 0 2 2 .500
Bader cf 3 1 1 0 .333
Crpntr 3b 1 0 1 1 1.00
C.Mrtnz p 1 0 0 0 .000
Mikolas p 1 0 1 0 1.00
J.Martinez 1 0 0 0 .000
Arzrna cf 1 0 0 0 .000
Totals 37 7 14 7Atlanta AB R H BI Avg.
Acuna Jr. cf 4 1 3 2 .750
Albies 2b 4 1 0 0 .000
Freeman 1b 4 1 2 1 .500
Dnldsn 3b 4 1 0 1 .000
Markakis lf-rf 5 1 1 0 .200
Joyce rf 2 0 0 0 .000
Duvall lf 1 0 1 0 1.00
McCann c 2 0 1 0 .500
Cervelli c 2 0 0 0 .000
Swanson ss 4 0 1 1 .250
Keuchel p 1 0 0 0 .000
Ortega 1 0 0 0 .000
Hchvria 1 0 0 0 .000
Hamilton 0 1 0 0 ---
Totals 35 6 9 5
St. Louis 000 010 024 — 7 14 2
Atlanta 100 002 003 — 6 9 0
2B—Mikolas (1), Goldschmidt (1), Edman (1), Ozuna 2 (2), Wong
(1), McCann (1), Acuna Jr. (1), Markakis (1). HR—Goldschmidt (1),
off Jackson; Acuna Jr. (1), off C.Martinez; Freeman (1), off
C.Martinez. RBIs—Fowler (1), Goldschmidt (1), Carpenter (1), Ozuna
2 (2), Wong 2 (2), Donaldson (1), Swanson (1), Acuna Jr. 2 (2),
Freeman (1).
St. Louis IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Mikolas .......................5 3 1 1 2 2 78 1.80
Webb .........................^1 ⁄ 3 1 2 1 1 0 11 27.00
Gallegos .....................^2 ⁄ 3 1 0 0 0 2 13 0.00
Brebbia ......................^1 ⁄ 3 1 0 0 0 0 11 0.00
Miller..........................1 0 0 0 0 0 10 0.00
Helsley .......................^1 ⁄ 3 1 0 0 0 0 10 0.00
C.Martinez, W, 1-0 ......1^1 ⁄ 3 2 3 3 1 2 29 20.25
Atlanta IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Keuchel....................4^2 ⁄ 3 5 1 1 3 0 74 1.93
O’Day .........................^1 ⁄ 3 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.00
Greene........................1 1 0 0 1 0 10 0.00
Fried, H, 1...................1 0 0 0 0 2 14 0.00
Martin.........................0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
Jackson, H, 1...............^2 ⁄ 3 3 2 2 0 1 17 27.00
Melncn, L, 0-1, BS, 0-1 .1 5 4 4 2 1 28 36.00
Newcomb....................^1 ⁄ 3 0 0 0 0 1 4 0.00
T—4:07. Tickets sold—42,631 (41,149).ATLANTA — The St. Louis
Cardinals committed only 66 er-
rors this season on the way to the
National League Central title, low-
est in the majors, and down from
an embarrassing 166 a year ago.
The latter figure led baseball, tar-
nishing the team’s reputation for
fundamentally sound play.
The Cardinals were confident
they could continue to repair their
credibility in Thursday’s opener of
the NL Division Series against the
Atlanta Braves.
“I think one of the reasons we’re
here is because our defense has
been a pillar for this team,” man-
ager Mike Shildt said a day earlier.
The Cardinals did not make the
necessary plays early, particularly
in the sixth inning when an error
by shortstop Paul DeJong led to a
run. But the Cardinals overcame
the blunders to defeat the Braves
7-6 in front of a sold-out SunTrust
Park crowd of 42,631.
The Braves led 3-1 entering the
eighth inning, but Paul Gold-
schmidt closed the gap, smashing
Braves reliever Luke Jackson’s
second pitch an estimated 446 feet
into the second deck at left field.
DeJong and Kolten Wong reached
on two-out singles that prompted
Jackson’s departure. Moments
later, DeJong scored the tying run
on Matt Carpenter’s RBI single.
Wong attempted to score but was
thrown out by left fielder Adam
Duvall.
It wasn’t Wong’s first mistake of
the evening. He made a throwing
error at second base in the first in-
ning that allowed the Braves to
take a 1-0 lead.
“That was really the only play I
had,” he said. “[Josh] Donaldson,
off the bat he was going down the
line pretty good. I caught the ball
in front of second base. I just tried
to flip it, couldn’t get a good hand
on it. ... I might body it more in-
stead of trying to pick it next time.”
Shildt, however, was compli-
mentary of Wong and DeJong, who
almost combined for a force play in
the sixth inning.
“I love the fact our guys are go-
ing to be aggressive and look to
make plays,” he said. “[DeJong]
tried to make a play. Kolten tries to
make a pick. Just kicked away, al-
lowed another run to score.”
Wong, who missed the last week
of the regular season because of a
hamstring strain, made up for his
inaccuracies. His two-run double
after Marcell Ozuna delivered a
go-ahead, two-RBI extra-base hit
in the ninth stretched St. Louis’
lead to 7-3.
Wong’s hit made a difference.
Ronald Acuna Jr., the young
Braves star who settled for a sev-
enth-inning single on a line drive
that should have yielded his sec-
ond double of the evening, blis-tered a two-run homer off Cardi-
nals closer Carlos Martinez. One
out later, Freddie Freeman
smoked a solo shot to center field,
cutting the deficit to 7-6, but Mar-
tinez retired Donaldson and Nick
Markakis to end the game.
“That’s playoff baseball,” Wong
said. “You never expect anything
to happen the way you plan.
Things are going to come up.
“And these guys put some really
good at-bats on Carlos, some good
swings. And we were just lucky we
were able to get away with the
win.”THE CARDINALS’Tommy Edman scores on a two-run double by Marcell Ozuna in the ninth
inning, breaking a 3-3 tie. The Braves’ rally came up short in the bottom of the inning.
Todd KirklandGetty ImagesIt’s not a glove story as
Cardinals hold off Braves
St. Louis overcomes some
poor defensive play and
takes the first game of the
NL Division Series.
ST. LOUIS 7
ATLANTA 6
By Maria Torres