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We all hate cheaters. Well, unless you're a PC gamer. If you play games on PC you're practically given a license to cheat. But I digress… Baseball has been home to cheaters for quite some time now thanks to the advent of performance enhancing drugs. Since then, baseball has been home to juiceheads and pill poppers like no other sport in America.

We here at IGN Fantasy Camp have had quite enough of these shenanigans. Those who originally made headlines for their drug use – Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Rafael "I have never used steroids, period" Palmeiro – have largely retired from baseball, slithering away into the dark corners of the world, though for McGwire that means coaching the current Cardinals hitters. But there are a few of these cheaters (and suspected cheaters) left in the sport today.

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Through the magic of videogames, we're going to present you with two scenarios. In one, we're going to get rid of some of the more notable players to make it into the Mitchell Report, to be suspended from the league outright, or even to be rumored to have some involvement with steroid use. That means we're forcing the likes of Alex Rodriguez, Andy Pettitte, David Ortiz, Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez, Miguel Tejada, Manny Ramirez, Jose Guillen and other less notable players right out of the majors. They're gone, ousted from their current teams and relegated to the minors (we put the CPU in charge of filling the holes), never to be heard from again. We were able to do all of this thanks to MLB 10: The Show on PlayStation 3.

In the other scenario – call it our version of Lost's sideways flash – the 'roided up stars are back in the majors going about their business. The point of all of this is to see if these drug users and alleged drug users have a significant impact on the outcome of a season. Are they the key to some team's success or is it all just a bunch of hot air? Regardless of the results, hooray for fair play!

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Some might be disappointed to learn that our season of fair play began with the usual high-profile suspects sitting atop the standings. Some of the teams hit the hardest by our removal of the 'roided-up players in terms of star power lost – the Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers – all sat atop their divisions (with the Yankees edging out the Sox for the top spot in the AL East) while teams like the Orioles and Nationals were still terrible at the end of May. Thankfully things quickly took a turn for one of the most hated teams in baseball.

By the all-star break, the Red Sox had leapt over the Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays followed suit. Apparently the Yanks were hurting after losing A-Rod and Pettitte. Without the lefty pitcher, Sergio Mitre had to fill the starting role and after 31 starts, he had a 5-12 record with a 5.94 ERA. The guy sucked. Ramiro Pena tried to fill A-Rod's shoes at third base, but his .234 batting average, two homers and 56 RBIs didn't help things much.

The Yankees' MLB Stats Ranking
Steroids Non Steroids
Hitting 1st 5th
Pitching 1st 10th

The Sox took a hit as well with Papi being replaced by either Jason Varitek or Victor Martinez at DH and Mike Cameron giving way to Darnell McDonald at center field with Jacoby Ellsbury taking the duties in left. The Red Sox, as they always manage to, made the playoffs this year behind the bats of Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia.

Without Manny Ramirez the Dodgers didn't seem to flounder as much as you might think. With Manny in the lineup, they're the tenth best hitting team in the league, without him they're 24th best, but the Dodgers still managed to be on top of their division at the all-star break. Doug Mientkiewicz (a first baseman, typically) took Manny's duties in left field and mustered a .263 average with 7 dingers and 40 RBIs.

The rest of the teams hit by our steroid-free philosophy neither improved nor worsened. The Orioles were where everyone expects them to be: in dead last for pretty much the entire year (sorry Baltimore). The same goes for the Nationals. The Royals, who lost Jose Guillen were in third place through August and remained there for the rest of the season. Teams who lost relatively inconsequential players like the Cardinals' Ryan Franklin and the Phillies' J.C. Romero (both relief pitchers) weren't hurt all that much as both finished first in their respective divisions.

At the end of the regular season the single biggest departure from the norm was (perhaps unsurprisingly) the New York Yankees who failed to make the postseason and failed to get a single award for the 2010 season. No Cy Young, no Hank Aaron award, no Rookie of the Year, not even a Gold Glove or Silver Slugger.

The Red Sox managed to clean up with Jacoby Ellsbury earning numerous accolades and Josh Beckett winning a Cy Young. The NL MVP went to Jason Bay (what?!) and Carlos Pena (again, what?!) took the AL MVP according to our steroid-less year in MLB 10: The Show. The Dodgers were another surprise, as they missed the postseason with a terrible second-half of the season.

The Dodgers' MLB Stats Ranking
Steroids Non Steroids
Hitting 10th 24th
Pitching 2nd 3rd

When the dust settled in October, it was the Tampa Bay Rays who won their first World Series title in team history. They were knocked out by the eventual champs, the Yankees, last year. Maybe it was all those steroid users holding Longoria and the Rays back?

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In our non-steroid season things played out quite a bit differently. The champion Rays couldn't compete with the amount of drugs in the American League and bowed out before the postseason. The Yankees, on the other hand, surged and had the best record in the major leagues with a record of 104-58. Oh, and A-Rod made his presence felt with an unbelievable 60 homeruns and 167 RBIs and picked up an MVP and Hank Aaron award while he was at it. Pettitte gave solid performances, but struggled at times with 11 wins and 10 losses with a 4.44 ERA.

The Dodgers also benefited from having the beefed up Manny Ramirez back in the lineup, finishing with a record of 95 wins and 67 losses. Manny chipped in with a batting average of .263 and 34 homers to go along with 95 RBIs. The Dodgers made the playoffs with Manny back, which means they're the only team from the NL who made it in the steroid-full year but missed it in the clean season. Coincidence? I think not.

The Red Sox MLB Stats Ranking
Steroids Non Steroids
Hitting 2nd 13th
Pitching 3rd 2nd

The Red Sox made the playoffs, as they always seem to, but finished higher in the standings with the return of their 'roided up players. Mike Cameron won a gold glove award while Ortiz drove in 87 RBIs and sent 31 balls out of the park with a .260 overall batting average. The Orioles, Nationals and just about every other crappy team with players with alleged or confirmed dopers remained firmly planted at the bottom of their respective divisions.

As fate would have it – no, we didn't fudge these results – the New York Yankees defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games to claim yet another World Series victory. And who pitched that seventh game? None other than Andy Pettitte. A-Rod made his presence felt with a game-winning homerun, much to the malign of pretty much every baseball fan out there.

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That's one huge analysis type news, lol.


This may be a huge analysis but it does prove that steroids play a big role in the MLB which is not the best thing. I personally think that it should be stopped and more enforced but I am not that much into baseball so I can't really say because I don't really know what goes on in baseball as much as I use to.

Let me know what you guys think about this steroid issue in the MLB and what they should do about it.

Roids create entertainment

The article was interesting. However, what you typed is too late. They have stiffened the penalty for using. Steroids aren't really the problem in MLB anymore, you hear occasionally of smaller guys at the minor league levels testing positive for steroids, not really any big time players. Steroids aren't running as rampant since the BALCO case as evident by the homerun numbers have dropped drastically. Of course, a drug still hinders MLB, HGH, but HGH effects every sport in the world probably.