Lack of salary cap is a bad look for baseball

By: Finn Reynolds

After the news of Shohei Ohtani’s record breaking $700 million contract this offseason, the discussion of a salary cap in baseball, or the lack thereof, is more relevant than ever. Baseball is the only American professional sport without a salary cap and the differences can be seen quite clearly. 

To start, the salary cap leads to predictability and unbalanced teams. Now don't get me wrong, there will always be good and bad teams in a prospective season. However, it is normally subject to change over the years. 

But this is not the case in baseball.
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Big market teams like the Dodgers and Yankees will always be in the running and be good because they have the money to buy out offers of the small market teams. The smaller teams who don't bring in as much revenue will always have a tougher time competing. The Dodgers have had one of the highest payrolls year to year in the MLB and they have won 9 National League West division championships in 10 years. Domination like that over such a long time frame is almost never seen in professional sports. 

Yes, their team has talent. But they also have the money to pay for that talent. 

Another part of the argument is not just that smaller teams can’t get stars. They also cannot keep stars. Once superstars get off their rookie contract, small market teams can’t pay to keep the players that improved their team. 

The Marlins have been forced to trade two MVP players (Giancarlo Stanton and Christian Yelich) to other teams so they got something for them before they left in free agency. Going along with that, the Marlins have made the playoffs one time in the last 19 years while having two MVP’s on their team. That is not normal in the sports world. 

Ohtani’s contract is a stark example of all these problems. Once it was known that he was playing the market, we knew there were only a few teams that could even match the money he wanted at $70 million a year (Ohtani softened the blow by deferring the majority of his contract, $680 million, until 2034 and be paid the balance from 2034-43).

Still, to put the ludicrous nature of Ohtani’s deferred-less contract into perspective, the Oakland Athletics’ 2024 payroll is $40,275,000, and there are another four team (Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Guardians, and Tampa Bay Rays) that are currently sitting below $80 million. 

Overall, the absence of a salary cap in baseball leads to predictable seasons and unbalanced teams, which robs baseball of the competitiveness and upset potential that exists in other professional sports.