Baseball player Ryan Braun, left-fielder for the Milwaukee Brewers and last year’s National League Most Valuable Player, successfully overturned a 50-game suspension for testing positive for steroids during last year’s Major League Baseball playoffs.

As the first successful appeal in the history of the MLB’s drug testing program, Braun’s case was unfairly won and sets a poor example for athletes in all professional sports.

On Oct. 1, days prior to the start of the playoffs, Braun provided a urine sample for performance-enhancing drug testing under the MLB’s protocol. The test came back positive, confirming the Brewers outfielder had a substantial increase in testosterone levels, according to an ESPN Outside the Lines report.

News of the positive test and the resulting 50-game suspension leaked out after the 2011 baseball season was over, and, more importantly, a couple of weeks after Braun was named National League MVP, sparking controversy around the league.

Braun appealed the result and on Feb. 23, a three-member arbitration panel ruled in his favor, finding Braun not guilty on a 2-1 vote, according to an ESPN report. The MLB representative voted against and the independent arbitrator sided with the Player’s Association representative.

So how did Braun win this appeal, with all the scientific evidence against him? A mere technicality in the protocol of collecting the test sample was the deciding factor. The collector, instead of dropping the sample off at a FedEx shipping center the day the sample was provided (Oct. 1), brought the sample to his home and left it in his basement for two days, approximately 44 hours, before shipping the sample. In his appeal, Braun questioned the collection protocol in that 44-hour time period.  

While the protocol for collecting samples clearly states that the collector must ship the sample the day it was collected, the urine sample Braun provided was secured by three tamper-proof seals. Furthermore, the sample collector had followed the same procedure for more than 600 other samples he has collected in his career.

That’s just not enough proof to overturn such a suspension and ruling. It seems wholly unreasonable and unlikely that the collector would have tampered with the sample. The collector identified himself as Dino Laurenzi, Jr. and came out with a statement following the successful appeal saying that he hadn’t tampered with the sample and couldn’t have due to the tamper-proof seals, according to an Associated Press report. Braun getting away with heightened testosterone levels just because the sample wasn’t shipped off the day of is flat-out ridiculous.

The consequences of such a ruling are tremendous. The first successful appeal of a drug suspension sets a precedent for future drug suspension appeals. Before Braun’s case, no player had successfully overturned a suspension or ban since the MLB’s implementation of the drug testing program. In future appeals, players facing a suspension or ban will have more leverage going into the case now that someone has won an appeal.

Braun’s appeal also sets a bad example for future and current baseball players around the league. The case shows players they can get away with increased testosterone levels by finding a fault in the testing protocol. It may be hard to replicate such success, but it is now in the realm of possibility following Braun’s case.

The MLB must take action in wake of such an appeal. Altering or changing the protocol for drug testing is an action the MLB has to take. Even though the protocol has worked for the first few years of its existence, this one slip-up is a major one and has to be prevented in the future if the MLB takes drug testing seriously.  

Whether or not the MLB will seek further punishment for Braun is not as important as correcting the test protocol. The damage has been done to both parties: the MLB’s protocol is now less trustworthy, and Braun’s reputation and image is tainted forever, even though he won the appeal.