The year 2012 was a year unlike any in baseball history. Rising stars such as Mike Trout and Stephen Strasburg burst onto the scene with their MVP-caliber play "drawing early comparisons to legendary greats Mickey Mantle and Nolan Ryan. It was a year of rebirth for baseball and the Baltimore Orioles who clinched their first playoff spot in fifteen years. It was also a year of dominance, as Miguel Cabrera became the first player to hit for the Triple Crown in 45 years. Yet, in this great year of play, baseball experienced something that caused many critics and followers to re-look the history books and become skeptical of the game all together. The 2011 National League MVP, Ryan Braun, was caught using performance-enhancing drugs causing many to question the transparency of his play. Braun was eventually exonerated of any connection to steroid use due to a technicality in the submissions of the test, but the issue regarding steroid use in baseball was heightened. Controversy around the former MVP prompted many to question baseball's competitive fairness and integrity, as well as the sport's popularity. Furthermore, this year's featuring hall of fame class, which consisted of some of the game's best, had no electees due to their connection to the "steroid " era. That meant the decision to not enshrine such greats as the standing all-time Homerun King in Barry Bonds, a 300-game winner in Roger Clemens, as well as the continual dismissal of two players in Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, who single-handedly revived baseball after the lockout with their epic home-run chase to Roger Maris's 61. However, steroids may perhaps be the solution to all the questions surrounding baseball today. If steroids and PED's are allowed in baseball, not only would the sport endure competitive fairness and maintain historical relevancy, but its popularity would surely be on the rise. .
Baseball today is characterized as a sport dominated by players who cheat to gain any sort of competitive edge, and justifiably so.
