When late March rolls around and spring training over, the day of the year that all fans of the sport look forward to is called "Opening Day". Opening Day is the first day of the Major League Baseball (MLB) season and almost always sells out, no matter who you root for.

Baseball has to clean up its act the most of all four major sports in the United States. Too many times we have seen players being suspended for doping and not being immediately accountable, fights occurring during games, and it has the least amount of respect for the game of all four major sports.

1. Doping

Back around 2010, there was an independent clinic called Biogenesis, where a couple players who were linked to it included Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Braun, Roger Clemens, and many more. Even if they were not linked to that clinic, other players like Barry Bonds were under fire for their involvement. These players were given performance-enhancing "steroids" or human growth hormone (HGH), and for years they tried to hide it from the public eye. They would be in denial about their alleged use, and they finally come out and admit to their use, and apologize for their actions after they have been punished. Fortunately, most of these players have been clean since, but they did not have it in themselves to be accountable sooner.

For example, Ryan Braun was under investigation in 2012 after winning the National League batting title in 2011 and typical drug testing protocol calls for a urine sample, where a "positive" test is a failed test given that the drug is present. In Braun's case, trial went to an independent arbitrator and a three-person committee after initial indications showed Braun would be suspended right after the 2011 season was over. But the arbitrator and his committee ruled two-thirds majority in favor of Braun and overturned his suspension, which was an unprecedented verdict in the history of Major League Baseball. The problem with this situation is that it took nearly two whole years for Braun to pay his due, which came at the end of the 2013 season for ~65 games. Alex Rodriguez was under question for years and it took him just as long, if not longer, to serve his suspension of 211 games, which ran through the 2014 season. Rodriguez appealed the suspension and the process was strung out which lead to the delay in disciplining him. It is better now with the way players like Starling Marte of the Pittsburgh Pirates was suspended for 80 games effective immediately, or when Michael Pineda of the Yankees was immediately tossed from a game for having a foreign substance on his neck. But, the players are still not being held fully accountable, since there was a three-strike like rule with anti-doping policies under the Collective Bargaining Agreement during the last few years of Bud Selig's tenure as MLB commissioner. First "strike" is a 50-game suspension, and the second "strike" is a 100-game suspension. If a player were to be caught doping three times, he's out of baseball altogether, like Pete Rose was banned for gambling. While it has not happened yet, some players have come very close, but they're not getting the discipline that they should be facing. That is up to current commissioner Rob Manfred but there needs to be harsher punishment on players who sneakily, but consciously, try to gain an unfair advantage on other athletes in the sport.

As a matter of fact, why dope when everybody who is in the major leagues trains as hard as they do for the season? MLB players have the strongest endurance of any athlete that does not run track and field or any full or half marathon. Some of the speediest players in baseball are possibly faster than professional football receivers and running backs, and can catch or hit a ball that is less than 30 yards away and have some of the quickest reaction times of anybody in the world. Everybody plays on the same field and plays for the same business. When somebody tries to gain a competitive advantage, everybody loses.

2. Fighting in games

This has a stronger connotation with hockey, but in baseball, when a fight breaks out, everybody on both sides is involved, and benches clear. Is that really necessary? Also, is it necessary to throw pitches at people? There is absolutely no reason for it. A player getting hit by a pitch is more than enough to start a fight during a game, and the problem is how players react to it. Some examples include Coco Crisp and James Shields when Shields played for the Oakland Athletics and Crisp was with the Red Sox, and Crisp got hit by a pitch on the hip. Everybody from the benches, as well as the bullpen, came out on to the field. It is completely unnecessary. There is not enough maturity among both players, coaches, and umpires to handle this, and there are not enough umpires to keep the peace when benches clear. When a team is batting, two of their coaches are out at first and third base, and when players fight, they create animosity among people in the same business. There seems to be a need to get even when it is not necessary. Players get upset and tensions rise but the need to get even shows immaturity among players and coaches, and even umpires. In a benches-clearing situation, everybody wants to get a piece of the fight rather than to end the war. Umpires also do not put enough effort into trying to solve the problem.

On a side note, discipline usually gets handed down to those involved in a fight or something malicious, but perhaps the players have not learned from their mistakes. Players are allowed to appeal suspensions for berating umpires and fighting and continue to play until their appeal is heard, which does absolutely nothing to develop accountability in the league.

3. Lack of respect for the game

This continues along the lines of fighting that exists in major league baseball. It is a big problem. The first glaring red flag is that there are no handshakes between teams after a game is over, absolutely none. All that happens is the winning team has their players shake hands and congratulate each other, but that is it. It is more understandable with the World Series, but think about all the other major sports in the professional ranks, with the Stanley Cup Finals, NBA Finals, and the Super Bowl. There is a handshake at the end of the game between the teams that played in the series or game. Not once has that been seen in the game of baseball. It is atrocious how there is not that component of sportsmanship. Yet in youth baseball, and little league baseball, it is required. So why not do it in the majors too? Instead, there is more trash talking and ill-will in baseball than any other major sport. This includes the aforementioned fighting. One example of this is when the Yankees visited the Red Sox in July 2013, where Alex Rodriguez was batting against Ryan Dempster. Rodriguez was under fire for his alleged Performance-Enhancing Drugs (PED) use, and Dempster was not at all a fan. He is right to not be supportive of PED use but Dempster handled it very poorly. Red Sox fans CHEERED when Dempster tried to hit him. Dempster missed on his first shot for ball 1. Two pitches later on a 3-0 count, Dempster throws and hits Rodriguez, and the crowd cheers again. That is as disrespectful as it can be for the game of baseball. Worst of all, Ryan Dempster was allowed to stay in the game. It is a lack of respect for the game since Ryan Dempster did not get properly disciplined (only misses one start), and even today this issue has not gotten better. Just look through YouTube for Hit By Pitch videos where some people are hit more dangerously than Rodriguez was, and the pitchers who are guilty were not all properly punished.

An extension of the lack of respect for the game is protection. The people who have the most protection in baseball are the umpires. They get to hide behind judgment calls and eject those who do not agree with it. Players do not get enough protection, if any at all. Starting with instant replay, there simply has not been enough expansion of replay to make the game more fair or respectable. Some calls are simply not able to be reviewed based on the current rules, when they could be reviewed and reversed or reviewed to make sure. Umpires' judgment makes up so much of the calls in the game, and for the most part they are right, but they are not 100% spot on every day. Secondly, players do not have enough protection especially when batting at the plate, where their helmets only cover their head and not their faces, and on the other hand, umpires wear shoulder pads, namely the home plate umpire. Players would get more protection if they were allowed to wear better helmets when batting, and to even wear those same helmets when they're playing defense.

Major League Baseball needs to step it up. With respect to doping, fighting, and a lack of respect for the game, the MLB is not doing as good a job as it could be. There is still doping involved in the league today, as well as fighting and a lack of respect for it. Players are already putting time in so much during the off-season and during the season to get ready for each day that they play, and they know what it takes to stay healthy. It does not take doping to do that. Players, umpires, and coaches have shown that there is not enough maturity to handle fights in the league right now, where there feels like a need to retaliate when it really is not necessary. Obviously it hurts when someone gets hit by a pitch, but isn't it better to just tell someone that you're upset with the fact they did it and/or let them come and apologize? Also, it is understandable if it has happened numerous times but baseball is not supposed to be violent like football is. However, baseball is becoming as violent as football is and it needs to change. It needs to change without physical retaliation. Rather, if a pitcher wants to get at a batter, just strike them out on three pitches. It is easier said than done, but its better than throwing at someone and possibly ending their season or career. A baseball to the head without protection could be fatal. With that being said, players need to focus more on playing the game than getting back at other people who are employed in the same business as they are. Players are good enough to be at this level and they are surely good enough to know better than beaning people or talking trash. There can also be better ways to end a football game, such as teams shaking hands when the game is over. Major League Baseball is the only major sport to not have post-game handshakes, especially in the playoffs. Until these changes are made in baseball, it is not appropriate to consider baseball as America's Pastime.