Why October Underdogs Are Shattering MLB’s Case for a Salary Cap

Haters of the Los Angeles Dodgers, along with Major League Baseball owners, regularly preach the need for a salary cap — a divisive issue that could lead to a lockout before the 2027 season begins. But the payrolls for four of the five teams remaining in the playoffs heading into Saturday tell a different story.Yes, the Dodgers, who have the baseball’s highest payroll, are heading back to the National League Championship Series in search of a third straight World Series trophy. However, three of the remaining four teams have among the lowest payrolls in the sport, while the other spends somewhere in the middle.According to Spotrac, the Dodgers, whose $339 million in payroll allocation ranks second to the New York Mets ($346 million), will take on the Milwaukee Brewers, who had the best record in baseball during the regular season, despite ranking 19th in payroll at $146.2 million.In the American League, the Tampa Bay Rays, who had the 28th ranked payroll among the 30 teams at $95 million, await Saturday night’s winner between the Chicago White Sox, ranked 24th ($103 million) and Cleveland Guardians, ranked 30th at $74 million.MLB has used payroll disparity to push for a salary cap during negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement. The owners appear entrenched on that demand to the point that many fear a lockout could jeopardize the start of next season.But this year’s postseason has offered limited evidence that the salary cap is causing a disparity in on-the-field success. The playoffs have featured teams spanning the upper, middle, and lower payroll tiers. Specifically, seven of the top 10 payrolled teams made the playoffs, joining the bottom tier teams, like the Ray, White Sox and Guardians.While the baseball players association points to the financial diversity among playoff participants, the league targets World Series outcomes. The last low-payroll team to win a World Series was the 2015 Kansas City Royals.Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes is among those who say players will never agree to a salary cap. “Both sides kind of have their line that they’re not going to cross,” Mr. Skenes, a member of the union’s eight-man negotiating committee, told reporters earlier this summer. “Whether that results in missing games or missing a season, we’ll see.”Baseball’s five-year labor agreement expires on Dec. 1 and MLB is expected to immediately lock out players from team facilities. More meaningful deadlines arrive in February and early March when spring training is scheduled to begin and opening day may need to be postponed.MLB has proposed to cap spending in 2027 at $245 million. It also would establish a payroll floor of $171.2 million forcing some teams to spend more than they currently do.MLB also proposed this week to trim the regular season to 154 games from 162, a shortened schedule that would begin in 2029. A 162-game schedule has been standard for the past 66 years, though some seasons have been shortened by player strikes. Under the new schedule the Division Series would become a best-of-seven series, instead of its current best-of-five format. The highest-seeded teams in the sport’s first two rounds, the Wild Card and the Division Series could pick their opponents.“Returning to a 154-game schedule would allow us to introduce a weekly off day, which is good for player health, while also creating a new national broadcast window to showcase our most exciting teams and players,” MLB spokesperson Glen Caplin said in a statement. “A shorter regular season unlocks making October even better for our fans — with fewer weekday afternoon games, a longer Division Series, and more opportunities to see the game’s best pitchers on the biggest stage.”The players union greeted the proposed scheduled change with a shrug, saying in a statement that it is contingent on players agreeing to a salary cap, “a system that guts player rights and compensation, as well as its other anti-player proposals.”The union said all proposals will be reviewed “at the bargaining table.”

Why October Underdogs Are Shattering MLB’s Case for a Salary Cap

Why October Underdogs Are Shattering MLB’s Case for a Salary Cap

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