Manny Ramirez has more pressure on him now than he ever has in his career.

He's played through pennant races and playoff series. He's won All-Star Games and World Series. He's peed during pitching changes and unnecessarily cutting off throws from center field. But tonight he returns from his 50-game steroid suspension, and he's got something to prove.

There's a long line of players behind him who've been linked with steroids, and most of them haven't done well afterwards. Bonds and Clemens were basically run out of the game. Palmeiro may be dead, for all I know. Honestly the only ones who haven't become social lepers are Pettitte, Giambi, and Alex Rodriguez -- the former because of apologies; A-Rod because he was a social leper already. Manny had the opportunity to apologize, but he ended up saying that he didn't rape anyone. That didn't really endear him to fans.

So he's going to have to stand up for himself on the field. He's right, there are worse things that he could have done. But in sports, the offense that he committed is pretty severe. He cheated. And at this point, in baseball using steroids is a grievous crime against the sport, especially for the biggest stars. Every time it looks like the light at the end of the tunnel is appearing, something like this happens to drag baseball back into the darkness. He's going to have to play pretty damn well to make up for what he's done.

He's also going to have to do it to prove to everyone that his entire career hasn't been a sham. Before now, people thought he was a hitting savant -- kind of a dumb guy overall, maybe, but a genius at the plate. Now it looks like he may have had some outside help. If he comes back and doesn't hit, questions will be raised. It's going to look like he was a fraud.

There's a lot riding on Manny Ramirez's return to the Major Leagues. As a Red Sox fan, I was a huge fan of his for years, and though the manner of his departure was maddening, I still have some of that fondness for him left. I really hope that this was a late-term slip-up, a one-time offense and not the cornerstone of his entire career. If he doesn't hit, it'll be seen as a sign that he's gone off the juice, and that he's been cheating for years. That may not be fair, but it's what's going to happen.

So if Manny Ramirez wants to matter, if he wants to be remembered, he has to hit and hit well from the start. His career depends on this. He's not like most players, so it's tough to tell whether he cares or not. But if he does, this is the most important stretch of his career.