Baseball owners are at it again – calling for a salary cap just as the sport sees record-breaking contracts and widening spending gaps between teams.
This time it’s Baltimore Orioles owner David Rubenstein making the pitch. He wants MLB to follow the NFL and NBA’s lead by putting limits on team spending.
“I wish it would be the case that we would have a salary cap in baseball the way other sports do,” Rubenstein said at the World Economic Forum. He thinks baseball will eventually move in that direction, though there’s no guarantee.
The timing isn’t surprising. Juan Soto just landed the biggest contract in baseball history, while the Dodgers keep spending like there’s no tomorrow. Meanwhile, almost half the teams are barely dipping their toes in free agency.
But here’s the thing: MLB actually has better competitive balance than leagues with salary caps.
Since 2000, more different teams have won championships in baseball than in football, basketball, or hockey. Baseball’s also second only to the NHL in how many teams have made it to the championship round since 2010.
Let’s be real – when owners talk about salary caps, they’re really talking about keeping player salaries down. That’s the actual goal, even if they dress it up as “competitive balance.”
Rubenstein’s Orioles aren’t exactly penny-pinchers right now. They’re sitting right in the middle of the pack – 15th in projected payroll for luxury tax purposes. Their expected Opening Day payroll of $156 million would be their second-highest ever.
The players’ union has made their position crystal clear. “We’re never going to agree to a cap,” union chief Tony Clark said last year.
This fight’s been going on since free agency began. The players have always pushed back against caps, going back to the days when Marvin Miller ran the union. These days, owners mostly stick to an unofficial cap through the luxury tax system.
One thing’s for sure – we won’t have to wait long before another owner starts calling for a salary cap. It’s basically baseball’s version of Groundhog Day at this point.
