Over the past few seasons, a problem has re-emerged in the MLB. That is the spending disparity between the big market teams and the small market teams. Teams like the Dodgers, Yankees, and Mets have payrolls that are consistently between $200 and 300 million dollars. In contrast, teams like the A’s, Pirates, and Rays don’t even spend $100 million.
This discrepancy in spending has caused a lot of MLB fans to worry about how certain teams are supposed to compete. How is a team like the Pirates, who spend about $80 million, supposed to compete with the Mets whose payroll is well over $300 million? How are small market teams supposed to sign free agents, when the big market teams can always offer more?
This has caused many to call for a salary cap in the MLB. Something to keep a level playing field and prevent teams from buying their way to a championship. However, a salary cap doesn’t fix the issues for MLB. The real way to solve the problems outlined is to introduce a salary floor.
Why A Cap Doesn’t Fix The MLB
The main argument people who are pro-cap use is it’ll make the league more balanced. Big market teams won’t be able to use their financial advantage to sign all the good players and build super teams. Markets will become less of a concern and everyone will have the same chance at signing free agents because everyone has the same budget.
However, balance and every team having a shot at a championship isn’t a major issue for baseball. Since 2000, the MLB has had 16 different teams winning a World Series. That means for the majority of the 2000s, the team that won the championship was winning their first since the 20th century. It also means that just over half the league has won the championship since the start of the millennium, which is much better than other major sports in the US. The NHL is the closest with 14 teams winning the title, followed by the NFL with 12 and the NBA with 10. All three of those sports have some type of salary cap system.
All a cap does is punish owners who invest in their teams. Punish teams like the Dodgers and Mets who want to make their teams better, and are willing to spend the money to do it. Why are we punishing teams who want to win games?
What A Floor Does
The problem in MLB isn’t teams that spend too much. It’s teams that have the money to spend but don’t. As mentioned before, the Pirates and A’s both have payrolls under 100 million dollars. However, both of their owners have a net worth of over a billion dollars, meaning they have more than enough money to invest in the club. A salary floor will force these cheap owners to start putting money into their clubs because there is a minimum number that the team has to spend if they want to avoid being penalized.
Now you may say that these small market teams don’t bring in the same revenue as the big market teams. However, that’s not entirely true. While yes teams in bigger cities bring in higher revenues, it’s not like these teams are left out to dry. The MLB has teams pool 48% of the revenue they earn, and then that revenue is split among the thirty teams. Thus giving these smaller market teams an influx of cash. But instead of re-investing it into the team, these owners normally pocket it.
The salary floor will force owners to spend on their clubs. Go out in free agency and try to bring in big-name guys to meet the floor requirements. Because of this, it won’t be the same five teams going after all the free agents. Instead, the majority of the league will be going after the free agents, making it a lot harder for one team to get all the good free agents. Thus making the league have more parity and improving the quality of teams across the league.
Thanks for reading! Credit for my feature image to Brandon Sloter. You can find more MLB content at Belly Up Sports and follow me on Twitter/X.
