MLB owners voted unanimously back in December to lock the players out after the end of the 2016 bargaining agreement on December 2nd. Since then, there has been no real progress in a few back-and-forth meetings between the players’ association and the owners.
One side effect of the lockout is one that could certainly impact the 2022 MLB season, if there is one. The MLB has stopped testing players for steroids for the first time in nearly 20 years, according to two Associated Press sources familiar with the MLB’s Joint Drug Program.
The pause on testing is directly related to the MLB lockout, as they stopped testing on December 1st, just a day before the MLB lockout began.
“It should be a major concern to all those who value fair play,” Travis Tygart, chief executive officer of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, told the AP Monday.
With the pause in testing, Tygart added that it is certainly possible for players to be micro-dosing while the lockout is going on.
Many around the baseball world have been reacting to this news on the MLB’s steroid testing program.
MLB players on Opening Day: https://t.co/BJVE5X0bab pic.twitter.com/JJL2Z3T8BU
— oddschecker (@oddscheckerUS) February 7, 2022
I just——do not understand. https://t.co/MrnDPDCrkw
— Kirsten Hatton (@kirsten_hatt) February 7, 2022
This could get juicy https://t.co/ZpRQbhTy7s
— Ben Verlander (@BenVerlander) February 7, 2022
Ratings down?? BRING BACK THE ROIDS!!!! https://t.co/zq3lvfx8FO
— Arcand (@ChristianArcand) February 7, 2022
This is just a month after Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were yet again denied election to the Baseball Hall of Fame due to steroid use.
Many took the chance to point out how it is certainly a little hypocritical on the part of MLB to stop testing for now, while some of the best baseball players of all time don’t get into the Hall of Fame year after year due to their past with steroids.
So put Barry Bonds in the Hall of Fame now https://t.co/RereveRt7e
— Dylan Jimenez (@dylj14) February 7, 2022
And they continue to keep Barry Bonds out of the Hall of Fame? https://t.co/C4kv2QZSs0
— Massimo Cubello (@massimocubello) February 7, 2022
Staring in Barry Bonds https://t.co/dhcAnWiaEH
— Clarence Hill Jr (@clarencehilljr) February 7, 2022
If fair play and steroid is still a concern of the MLB, this is certainly something that they will need to figure out soon. As of now, it seems like any player could have started their cycle of steroids months ago and be clean when they start testing again at some point.
