(The Score) Let’s enjoy the 2026 baseball season. Because the 2027 version will assuredly be delayed to start and perhaps be missed entirely.
As has been much-discussed, the collective bargaining agreement is set to expire on Dec. 1. As that date looms, MLB owners have never been more emboldened to push for a salary cap and a salary floor in a unified stance that’s backed by the commissioner’s office.
This information comes from sources within and close to multiple MLB franchises: Over the past five years, MLB has been withholding a small portion of each team’s share of national television money as well as a portion of licensing revenue. Those dollars have been consolidated into a $75-million-per-team “war chest” that should allow each franchise to withstand the potential loss of an entire baseball season in 2027.
The owners’ goal is a salary cap so that exorbitant spenders like the Dodgers and Mets will be held within reasonable limits. They also want a salary floor so that all teams will be forced to carry a payroll that doesn’t allow them to simply make money while losing or endlessly rebuilding with varying degrees of success. The gap between the floor and the hard cap (like the NHL uses) could be set at $100 million, initially with no competitive balance tax as currently exists in MLB and without or any first and second luxury tax aprons as they currently exist in the NBA.
A final data point pushing the owners to unprecedented unity in their readiness is the Dodgers’ recent signing of star outfielder Kyle Tucker, which will cost them a combined salary and tax fee total of $119 million dollars annually – for what one source described as “their fourth-or fifth-best player.” The CBT has proved to be ineffective in leveling the playing field on the high end.
The players’ union is, of course, going to push back hard on any talk of a salary cap. The stars who are paid the most and their powerful agents will want the ceiling to remain nonexistent. The owners’ initial offer, however, is expected to raise total overall compensation for the players by a considerable amount from 2026 to 2027, with an eye toward benefitting the enormous middle class of MLB players. There will potentially be discord in the union between the stars and the rank-and-file.
Leadership on both sides continues to be a concern. Hunger for power, stubbornness and self-preservation have already reared their head – and may again as we move forward.
As spring training facilities fill up and the actual games get closer, every department of every team is well aware of a danger that looms beyond November.
Fans have the option of whether to consider that as well.
Matt Spiegel is the co-host of the Spiegel & Holmes Show on 670 The Score from 2-6 p.m. weekdays. Follow him on Twitter @MattSpiegel670.