Every single one of the 12 professional baseball players who have accepted a 50-game suspension for violating the league's drug policy hail from Latin American countries.

Have they been treated unfairly?

Dave Zirin of The Nation argues that the players have become scapegoats and that Major League Baseball and the teams should be taking some blame.

Zirin makes a valid point. In a recent article, Zirin brought up Gregg Sarra's Newsday article from 2009 in which Sarra said, "Here's how easy it is to buy anabolic steroids in the Dominican Republic: Walk into the local pharmacy and ask for them."

These details make it much more difficult to blame the players, who are encouraged by MLB to leave their countries to play professional baseball in America. Players are signed at such young ages that they may not all have the chance to study and understand the laws in another country. Furthermore, many are born into poverty and might be willing to do anything to help find financial stability for their families. Ultimately, some take performance-enhancing drugs to find an edge and ultimately send home a paycheck.

As Zirin so eloquently states, "Baseball's owners prey on this reality. They want to benefit from steroids in the development of talent, and then excoriate those same players when caught on US shores. It's a context that speaks to the imperial arrogance at the heart of the game. It's a context right in front of our faces that we are asked not to see. Put simply, MLB owners want to have their anabolic cake and eat it too."

The suspended players include Jordany Valdespin of the Mets and Francisco Cervelli of the Yankees. The other suspended players are Antonio Bastardo, Everth Cabrera, Nelson Cruz, Fautino De Los Santos, Sergio Escalona, Fernando Martinez, Jesus Montero, Jordan Norberto, and Cesar Puello.