In a year when MLB and the Player’s Union (MLBPA) are arguing over a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA), the union has been arguing that the sport is healthy and competitive. The last time a small market team won a World Series was 11 years ago when the Kansas City Royals reigned supreme. This year, a low budget team will be the American League representative in the World Series.
We have to say low budget team because if the Chicago White Sox emerge as the American League’s World Series team, they are a large market team that operates as a low budget team. The Southsiders are the poor Chicago cousin to the mighty Chicago Cubs who were bounced from the postseason in the Wild Card round.
No matter your religion, the story of Pope Leo, who is a devout White Sox fan, might be a sign of divine intervention if he is talking directly to the Baseball Gods. They have made a miraculous run. How far they go will be a story to watch.
The Dodgers have won the last two World Series. If they win this year, the MLB narrative will be that the other teams didn’t have a chance. The Brewers had the best record in MLB this year and might be the best bet to knock out the Dodgers. Might. Could. Will they? They have to play the games to see the outcome. In the balance is Goliath vs. David. If the Dodgers win, MLB has its ammunition to demand a salary hard cap. In return, they will allow a salary hard floor. The MLBPA is vehemently opposed to any salary cap ceiling.
A lot is on the line here. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred could be secretly rooting for the Dodgers while MLBPA interim executive director, Bruce Meyer, could be secretly rooting for the Tampa Bay Rays in this postseason. Truthfully, we have no idea what goes on behind closed doors. But as a baseball fan, both sides sicken me. The fans pay for it all in supporting the bloated salaries and team profits.
A work stoppage would be disgusting. You know who ultimately gets screwed are the fans and the team employees who will face lay-offs. That’s the way this goes. The Orioles were the first team to begin laying off employees.
Someone leaked the MLB’s national TV plan and how team’s would get paid if there is a work stoppage. Who would leak that information to a media person? Follow the money. Most likely an employee with a team that does not want a hard salary cap. By leaking this information, MLB lost a lot of leverage in this game of “Who Will Flinch First?”
In news on Thursday, MLB proposed a shorter season at 154 games while changing the Division Series in the postseason from a Best-of-5 to a Best-of-7 series.
The fans are the customers — yet they have no say in this debacle. This is like watching your two extremely wealthy best friends fighting with each other over a small stack of money.
Key Poll Findings
- The Athletic Survey (2026): Found that 68% of surveyed fans favor a salary cap-and-floor system, while 27% oppose it and 5% are undecided. About 73% of respondents also agree that current payroll disparities create an unfair fight.
- Morning Consult / Industry Surveys: Indicate that support reaches 79% among avid MLB fans and 69% among casual fans.
- CivicScience / SBJ Survey: Showed 57% overall support for a salary cap, with approval rising to roughly 66% among fans aged 65 and older.
Context and Opposition
- Why fans support it: Many fans feel that massive spending gaps between high-market teams (like the Los Angeles Dodgers) and small-market clubs hurt competitive balance and give wealthier franchises a permanent advantage.
- The Union’s Stance: The MLB Players Association (MLBPA) strongly opposes a salary cap, arguing that it primarily benefits MLB owners’ profit margins rather than helping fans, and that actual parity is better achieved through other mechanisms.
Life As a Nats’ Fan
While I can’t tell you how you should feel, let me tell you how I see this through the lens of a Washington Nationals fan. In my humble opinion, you should be 100 percent in favor of a salary cap and salary floor with no revenue sharing other than splitting all TV revenue equally among all teams.
To expand this further, a salary floor would force the Washington Nationals to spend more. That is good for winning and staying competitive. As reported by both CNBC and Forbes, the Nationals are bottom-5 in team revenue — and both reported that the Nationals lost money last year. A TV revenue split would help the Nationals greatly and put them on a much-needed even playing field with the other 29 MLB teams.
If MLB institutes the equal revenue sharing for TV money, teams would differentiate themselves financially by making their incremental money through attendance, corporate sponsorships, and ancillary income as teams are building ballpark villages.
Have the Nats done enough to raise revenues? Absolutely not. They have never sold their lucrative stadium naming rights, and their attendance has never been where it should have been in the winning years where the Nationals never were in the Top-10 of attendance in those years. Even when the Nats were spending near the tops of baseball, the fans never rewarded the team near the tops of attendance. Those are facts.
If this all sounds depressing, it is. As they say, the truth hurts. A new CBA that sets salary caps (floor and ceiling) along with TV revenue sharing could be great news, and should be good times ahead for your Washington Nationals.
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