Major League Baseball players and owners agree: It’s time to beef up the rules regarding… Major League Baseball players and owners agree: It’s time to beef up the rules regarding steroid use in America’s pastime. A tougher steroid-testing program was approved yesterday that includes penalties for first-time offenders, and for the first time, they have instituted random, year-round checks.

Under the previous agreement, a first positive test resulted only in treatment, and a second positive test led to a 15-day suspension. It was only after a fifth positive test that a player was subject to a one-year ban.

That policy was a joke. Players had knowledge of the test dates, and there was no guarantee of punishment. It read more like a “How to not get caught taking steroids in the MLB” manual than a real policy for a serious violation.

Perhaps it’s because baseball didn’t want to know that the players weren’t really playing fair. Maybe the blind-eye approach seemed like a better route than a disciplinarian model. But now, with some of the league’s biggest stars under suspicion and lawmakers demanding some action, the new policy agreement is a step in the right direction.

Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig said, “We had a problem and we dealt with the problem.”

The new testing policy calls for a 10-day ban after a first positive test, a 30-day ban for a second positive test, a 60-day penalty for a third positive and a one-year ban after a fourth positive test — all without pay. A player who tests positive a fifth time would be subject to discipline determined by the commissioner. It also demands that every player be randomly checked throughout the year, including the off-season. Added to the list of already banned substances is Human Growth Hormone, which can only be traced by blood tests. According to the MSNBC Web site, blood tests will not be conducted in baseball.

Critics of the new policy say it’s still not tough enough. Amphetamines are not on the banned substances list, and the punishments are not as harsh as those issued for the same violations in the Olympics.

Nevertheless, the agreement is a step in the right direction. When fans watch a game, they are expecting more out of professional athletes than that they just “play ball;” they are supposed to play fair.

The sport is finally doing some justice to the players who avoided steroids — the abide-by-the-rules kind of guys who usually finished last. Now, it will be a more equitable game for them. Maybe even the Pirates will have a chance. Maybe not…

Despite its shortcomings, the new agreement is better than the previous policy.