\u201cJust think of it as Monopoly money.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s my go-to response when friends, family and fans ask me about the madness of Major League Baseball\u2019s economic system. It\u2019s the only way to wrap our minds around it.<\/p>\n
Of course, for a fan who shells out $20 for a hot dog and a beer at a Rockies game at Coors Field, that\u2019s of little comfort. That\u2019s real money.<\/p>\n
But back to the madness.<\/p>\n
Coming off two straight World Series titles, the Dodgers will again have a payroll of more than $400 million in 2026. Only four other teams \u2014 Yankees, Mets, Phillies and Blue Jays \u2014 are projected to top $300 million, according to Cot\u2019s Baseball Contracts.<\/a> The Marlins ($79.3) and White Sox ($85.9) bring up the rear. That\u2019s a Grand Canyon-sided disparity.<\/p>\n The rebuilding Rockies, fresh off a 119-loss season, but hopeful with a new front office in place, are projected to have a $131.2 million payroll.\n<\/p>\n The club held its Fan Fest on Saturday. Hall of Famers Todd Helton and Larry Walker were in town, the new brass met with fans, players percolated with optimism, and Dinger did his Dinger thing.<\/p>\n But a dark shadow looms as MLB once again nears an economic tipping point and talk of a lockout next winter heats up.<\/p>\n According to a recent story by Evan Drellich,<\/a> the national baseball writer for The Athletic, most MLB owners are \u201craging\u201d in the wake of Kyle Tucker\u2019s four-year, $240 million free-agent deal with the Dodgers. Drellich reported that it\u2019s \u201ca 100 percent certainty\u201d the owners will push hard for a salary cap beginning in 2027.\n<\/p>\n Leading the charge will be Rockies owner Dick Monfort, chair of the league\u2019s labor committee. Part of the reason Monfort stepped away from his day-to-day interactions with the Rockies and handed them over to his son, Walker, is that Monfort will be engulfed by the labor battle. Monfort has said that the only way to fix baseball is to establish a salary cap and a salary floor.<\/p>\n Last September, an anonymous mid-sized-market team president told ESPN\u2019s Jeff Passan,<\/a> \u201cHow do we compete? We try to do everything right. We draft well. We develop well. And then we get the (expletive) kicked out of us by clubs that buy their players. It feels like the game is rigged.\u201d\n<\/p>\n While Monfort and the vast majority of MLB owners see a salary cap as an economic and competitive necessity, the MLB Players Association says a cap is a nonstarter; a line in the sand.<\/p>\n Eleven months from now \u2014 on Dec. 1, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. ET, to be exact \u2014 MLB\u2019s current labor agreement expires. At that point, the owners would, in all likelihood, lock out the players. Free agency and trades would cease as they did in 2021.\n<\/p>\n Worse, if a lockout wiped out most of spring training, an extended work stoppage \u2014 baseball\u2019s last was in 1994-95 \u2014 would be inevitable. The hope throughout the industry is that it won\u2019t come to that.<\/p>\n Last January, the Dodgers signed left-handed reliever Tanner Scott to a four-year, $72 million contract. Big Blue\u2019s move left many fans, and many owners seeing red. Even Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner sang a song of woe.\n<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s difficult for most of us owners to be able to do the kinds of things (the Dodgers) are doing,\u201d Steinbrenner told the YES Network<\/a> a week after the Scott deal.<\/p>\n On the day of Scott\u2019s signing, MLB Trade Rumors<\/a>, a clearinghouse for baseball news, ran a two-question poll for its readers. The first asked: \u201cDo you want a salary cap in the next MLB CBA?\u201d After more than 35,000 votes were cast, an overwhelming 67.2% said yes. Then there was this: 50.2% of respondents said they would be willing to lose the 2027 season if baseball implemented a salary cap.\n<\/p>\n But Tony Clark, the executive director of the MLBPA, has continually said that there\u2019s nothing to fix.\n<\/p>\n