Minus suspended stars, teams keep up playoff push

Today’s news from the Associated Press was selected by Media Writing student Jaycee Wallace.

 By Ben Walker, AP Baseball Writer —

Jose Iglesias and a fresh band of Texas Rangers now have All-Star spikes to fill.

The playoff races took a twist Monday when Detroit shortstop Jhonny Peralta and Texas outfielder Nelson Cruz were suspended 50 games by Major League Baseball in the Biogenesis drug case. In all, 13 players were penalized.

The AL Central-leading Tigers acquired Iglesias from Boston in a three-team trade last week, preparing to play minus Peralta. The contending Rangers called up two outfielders from Triple-A soon after Cruz was banned.

“Who knows how it is going to hurt them with Peralta and Cruz being out? Who knows who comes up and how they’ll do? We’ll see how it shakes up,” Kansas City pitcher Aaron Crow said.