Ryan Braun's Appeal Victory Is a Defeat for the Arizona Diamondbacks

For Diamondbacks’ fans, the announcement Thursday that Ryan Braun won his appeal of a 50 game suspension carries a little more meaning.

Braun, who tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone, won his appeal on a technicality as the sample was not tested in the requisite number of days after being drawn.

Braun destroyed the Diamondbacks in the 2011 National League Division Series.  He batted .500, with a .889 slugging percentage, and a staggering OPS of 1.460. 

Ridiculous numbers.

Braun was far and away the best hitter in the NLDS, and especially on the Brewers.

The only other Milwaukee player with more than five at bats in the series that hit over .300 was Jerry Hairston Jr.

Is it out of the question to think that had Braun not put up the type of numbers that he did, that the Diamondbacks would have advanced to the National League Championship Series?

They did, after all, take the NLDS to extra innings of the fifth and final game even with a possibly performance enhanced Braun.

Had the 50 game suspension been upheld, it would have been a small amount of vindication for the way that Arizona’s season ended.

Already without Prince Fielder, and playing nearly one third of the season without Braun, the Brewers likely would have been out of the playoff race by the All Star break.

Such a season might be described in one word by Diamondbacks’ fans…karma.