Major League Baseball and the players' union are optimistic that talks are progressing on testing for opioids.

The negotiations come in the wake of the death of Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs.

"The dialogue in this has been really positive with the players association, a lot of common ground on addressing the issue," Rob Manfred said. "We understand that our workforce is a microcosm of society. There's a societal problem."

Although the joint program of MLB and the players' association has testing with penalties for performance-enhancing drugs and banned stimulants, opioids are included in drugs of abuse and not subject to testing with penalties for players on 40-man rosters.