MLB Steroid Era Controversy: New Tests Show Decrease In Drug Use For 2014 Following Alex Rodriguez Suspension, Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds Scandals

Offensive numbers were down across Major League Baseball again this season, and have been trending that way for several years. We now have an official answer as to why –– it appears the game is clean!

Citing a joint press release issued by Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association, the Boston Globe's Pete Abraham tweeted Monday that the league conducted 7,929 drug tests last season, including 1,535 for Human Growth Hormone, which was once considered notoriously undetectable.

The Daily News reported that only two players tested positive for steroids – one being New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who was suspended for the entire 2014 season.

Ten players tested positive for stimulants, including Baltimore Orioles third baseman Chris Davis, whose 25-game suspension for testing positive for Adderall famously forced him to miss the postseason.

Thirteen players were suspended for steroid use in 2013, including Rodriguez. But those were the result of a lengthy investigation, not official testing.

Major League Baseball began testing after the 2004 season. Many considered the action overdue, as drug use had been rampant around the league for decades.

Baseball prospered in the mid-1990s due to the spectacle of supped-up sluggers and the revival of the long ball. Of the eight 60+ home runs seasons in the history of Major League Baseball, six were recorded between 1998 and 2001. In 1998, Mark McGwire hit 70 home runs to break Roger Maris' single-season record of 61 that had stood since 1961. Three years later, Barry Bonds set the new record with 73.

Regardless, many of the stars of the Steroid Era have seen their legacies tainted by their connections with drug use. Bonds, McGwire, Sosa, Roger Clemens and others remain on the Hall of Fame ballot years into their eligibilities, slighted by voters who consider them cheats.