Baseball's Steroid ERA refers to a period of time in Major League Baseball (MLB) when the use of performance-enhancing drugs, such as steroids, was rampant. This period began in the late 1980s and lasted until the early 2000s. The term ERA is used to refer to this ERA, as it stands for 'Estimated Run Average'. This statistic is used to measure the number of runs a pitcher gives up over a given period of time.