For the first time in nearly 20 years, there is currently no testing for steroids in Major League Baseball.
The league’s join drug agreement expired as part of the lockout, which began on Dec.2, according to The Associated Press, which added that a provision in the join drug agreement states, “the termination date and time of the program shall be 11:59 p.m. ET on Dec. 1, 2021.”
MLB and the union did not comment to the AP on the stoppage in testing.
The AP also obtained a copy of a “Work Stoppage Guide” that was created by the MLBPA and distributed to its members, which included a section on whether or not the Joint Drug Agreement [JDA] testing would be administered during the stoppage.
“Based on past precedent in the NFL and NHL, it is unlikely that MLB can administer JDA testing during a work stoppage,” it said.
Major League Baseball first agreed to a joint drug testing program in 2002, which began with a survey testing in 2003. By 2004, urine tests for PEDs began with penalties for any violators.
Just last month, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were denied election into Baseball’s Hall of Fame in the final year of eligibility due to their past connections with PEDs.
David Ortiz, who was reportedly among those who tested positive in the 2003 survey test, was elected in his first year of eligibility, though, prompting more debate around the Hall of Fame.
The current stoppage in testing has drawn concern from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.
“It should eb a major concern to all those who value fair play, Travis Tygart, CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, told the AP. “If it’s just a simple matter of. agreeing to it, you would have hoped they would have been able to get that figured out, so that when the game does restart, you don’t have questions hanging over individual players based on size, speed, batting percentage, home run numbers, whatever it may be, that people are going to call into question again.”
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