Matthew Bores 

Mdb5896@psu.edu

With the looming cloud of the MLB lockout, a huge doping agreement has expired during this trying time for baseball. Steroid testing has been something the league was on top of, but with the players and MLB at odds, it has expired, and fans should be worried. Both the league and the players association have declined to comment as per the Associated Press. During this stoppage, players won’t be tested which leads many to believe that there may be some who try and take some kind of performance booster to help them with the upcoming season. 

Travis Tygart, who is the chief executive for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said, “You could easily do what the cyclists were doing even in a good testing program, which was micro-dosing testosterone. You can do testosterone gels or oral pills that could be out of your system and you can do more in maybe weeks.” In late 2002, the league reached an agreement with players calling for steroid screening in 2003. Urine sampling began in 2004 after more restrictions were agreed upon, and in 2012, blood testing for Human Growth Hormone began. The blood testing was suspended because of the Coronavirus Pandemic as of recent. 

This also comes as a shock not only to players, but to fans because there were some key events just last month in the Baseball Hall of Fame elections. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were on their last year of eligibility for the hall of fame, but did not make it in because the officials responsible for voting players and managers in were at odds. Both Bonds and Clemens had steroid allegations against them during their time in the sport, but what they did for the game of baseball is something many won’t be able to achieve in their careers. Two more key players who also had performance enhancing drug allegations were Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez, and their hall of fame voting chances have decreased as the years have gone by. So the question is, will the MLB and the Players Association be able to come up with an agreement sooner rather than later? Because if they cannot do so, there could be the chance some players take steroids or some other performance enhancing drug that gives them an unfair advantage on the field.