Jenrry Mejía received a lifetime MLB ban after three failed drug tests. But what does this mean for MLB moving forward?

Mets pitcher receives a lifetime ban

News broke over the weekend that Jenrry Mejía would be permanently banned from Major League Baseball.

The reasoning? Mejía failed a third PED test, meaning 3 strikes and he’s out.

Baseball jokes aside, Mejía’s ban from baseball represents something far more important.

https://twitter.com/BaseballQuotes1/status/698264990332149761/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Let’s backtrack for a moment. Baseball is American’s pastime, albeit with a ton of controversy. The 90s are widely known as the Steroid Era, and it is a significant part of MLB history. Clearly when baseball started, no one thought doping would become as big of a problem as it is. And while it’s hard to pinpoint exactly when doping started in baseball, there are some cases that really stand out.

Some of the biggest recent cases came out of Jose Canseco’s book, Juiced. In the book, Canseco admitted to doping and accused a lot of high-profile players as well — most notably Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, and Jason Giambi. McGwire and Giambi would both later admit to using steroids to help them perform better on the baseball field. Palmeiro ironically failed a drug test days after his 3000th career hit — a tainted monumental corrupted milestone.

Due to those confessions and the increased use, the MLB decided to revamp its PED policy in 2014. A first offense would carry an 80-game suspension while a second offense would carry a 162-game suspension and a third offense would result in a lifetime ban.

strike 3. you’re out!

Mejía is the first MLB player ever to have a third offense, making him the first player to be banned for using PEDs. One thing that most people don’t know is that Mejía was still sitting for his second offense — he was serving a 162 game suspension as of July 28, 2015. Now it’s unclear if he will ever return to the field and if he does, he won’t be eligible in the US, Japan, Taiwan and Korean leagues until 2018 as most leagues honor MLB suspensions.

This is a historic moment for MLB as it shows they care more about the integrity of the game and want the league to have a level playing field for all players. While Mejía can petition for reinstatement after a year, he’s now made history in a way that he certainly didn’t plan on.

 

Featured Image via Bleacher Report’s twitter