Major League Baseball has asked the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to help its investigation into whether several players received banned drugs as reported in an Al Jazeera documentary.

The two groups have shared information before but have never cooperated to such a formal extent.

"We've had discussions with USADA and are hopeful that together we can make progress in this investigation," said Dan Halem, MLB's chief legal officer, who oversees baseball's drug program.

Ryan Howard and Ryan Zimmerman were named in the report.