As we reach the end of the MLB season, and the last two teams standing are the number one and number five teams in terms of total payroll, it is easy to start questioning whether a salary cap could be beneficial to baseball.
The Los Angeles Dodgers, in particular, have been accused of ‘ruining baseball’ for years now, spending more on Shohei Ohtani alone, per year, than the entire Marlins roster, according to Spotrac. But we cannot just blame the Dodgers for the major disparity in the skill and star-power of the 30 MLB teams. The salary issue is caused just as much by teams like the Marlins and White Sox, who spend virtually no money, as it is the teams like the Dodgers, Blue Jays and Mets, who spend $300 million or more per year. Not only is a salary cap required to even the playing field, but in order for that to be effective, it would have to be accompanied by a salary floor.
Unfortunately, the likelihood of either of these being imposed in the near future is very slim. After the lockout at the beginning of the 2021 season, the MLB Players Association (MLBPA) and the MLB renewed their Collective Bargaining Agreement, which not only made it so a salary cap could not be created, but also raised the minimum salaries for players.
On the other side, the salary floor faces barriers because of agreements between the MLBPA and the team owners. There are two different types of owners: the owners who are in it to win it, spending money, and trying to assemble the best team possible, and there are the owners who see themselves as business owners, just trying to make a profit, with less regard to their team’s performance. There are pros and cons to each of these approaches, but the issue is that they both exist at the same time. When both of these extremes are present in the same league, it is no surprise that the teams with higher payrolls are significantly better than those with lower payrolls.
With 65 MLB players on contracts worth $100 million or more, there is no doubt that something has to be done before we end up with three or four super-teams and 26 that refuse to pay for talent. There have already been rumblings of another lockout at the beginning of the 2026 season to avoid this happening. The last lockout essentially pushed the issue down the road in order to start the season as soon as possible, but we might not get so lucky this year if the MLBPA and owners decide to tackle the cap head-on. We could be looking at weeks or months without baseball this summer.
In theory, instituting a salary cap and floor would be a potential fix to the skill gaps between teams. But with both the players and the owners not willing to give an inch, it is unlikely we will see this in the near future.
