Major League Baseball Players’ Association Union chief Tony Clark resigned recently, and the timing couldn’t be worse. The union’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the league expires on December 1, 2026, and now Bruce Meyer, the union’s Deputy Director, will handle the negotiations for a new deal. An MLB Salary Cap is expected to be at the forefront of negotiations, and the insistence upon it could lead to the first work stoppage since 2022.
Why Is An MLB Salary Cap Needed?
In 2025, league revenue reached $11 billion, and the team payrolls hit $6.035 billion. This 55/45 split in favor of the players is in line with the other major sports leagues, but the issue among owners is the percentage of the 55 that belonged to a handful of teams. Four teams had payrolls that exceeded $300 million, led by the Los Angeles Dodgers at $417 million. On the same hand, three teams had payrolls under $100 million, with the Miami Marlins at the bottom of the league with $85.3 million.
The issue isn’t in how much individual players are getting paid, it’s in competitive balance. For example, in 2025, the MLB featured 27 players whose contracts had an average annual value (AAV) of $30 million or more. Those players were spread out among just 14 teams, which means that more than half the league did not have a $30 million per year player, and half the league had multiple. The Dodgers had four of those players, totaling nearly $200 million in AAV. That’s 25% of the league’s highest-paid players on one team.
Is There Parity In The MLB?
Chris Bassitt, a pitcher with the Toronto Blue Jays (fifth-highest payroll in baseball last season), suggests that baseball has more parity than any other major sport. He mentions the Chiefs and Patriots dynasties as an example of how the NFL, which has the most rigid salary cap, has less parity than the MLB. A look at the two leagues over the last 15 years would confirm his statement.
The last 30 World Series participants were comprised of 18 different MLB teams (60% of the league). The NFL featured just 13 different participants in the Super Bowl over the same time frame (40.6% of the league). 25 of 30 MLB teams have won their division over the last 15 years (83.3%), while 27 of 32 NFL teams have won their respective divisions (84.4%). According to these numbers, it does not matter whether a league has a stringent salary cap or no salary cap at all. Some teams will do well, and some won’t.
The deception in the numbers lies in the payroll of the teams at the top. In the NFL, every team has the same salary cap and salary floor rules. So, no matter who makes the Super Bowl, they will be playing against a team with the same payroll. In the MLB, that is not the case. 24 of the 30 teams that played in the World Series over the past 15 years were in the top half of baseball for payroll (19 were in the top 10). In other words, the more a team pays its players, the more likely they are to get to the big game.
What Would An MLB Salary Cap Look Like?
The cap would fluctuate with revenue as it does in every league. The more money that comes in, the more that goes to the players because the percentage allocated to the players would be set in stone. Using 2025 as an example, the average team had a payroll of $201.2 million, so that would be the salary cap. Currently, there are 14 teams over the cap and 30 under it, so there would need to be some moves made to level the playing field.
An MLB salary cap would only work if there were a salary floor. Capping how much a team is allowed to spend while still letting teams like the Marlins and Chicago White Sox nickel and dime would only be robbing the players. For true parity, a team would never be allowed to go over the cap and would have to maintain at least 95% of the cap in payroll over a rolling 3-year period.
This means, going by 2025, teams would be required to stay under a $201.2 million cap, and to pay out at least $191.1. It’s not the rich teams that this would hurt as much. Making teams like the Tampa Bay Rays double their payroll would be so drastic that it would cause quite a few owner changes throughout the league. No matter, since people like Mark Cuban and Jeff Bezos would love to get their hands on an MLB franchise.
The Dodgers would likely keep Shohei Ohtani, but the rest of their highest-paid players would have to find homes in Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. For years, players have been able to get as much money as Scott Boras could get them and play for any team their heart desired. An MLB salary cap is coming, and players will have to choose whether they want to keep their cake or eat it.
