MLB Proposes Salary Cap as Part of CBA Negotiations with Players, Full Details Revealed

Let the fireworks begin.

MLB's owners officially proposed a salary cap to the Major League Baseball Players Association on Thursday, according to the Associated Press, the first time the owners have requested the system since the 1994 strike that cancelled the remainder of that season.

The MLBPA has repeatedly insisted it would never accept a salary cap, setting the stage for a potential lockout or strike that could impact—if not ultimately cancel—the 2027 campaign.

On Wednesday, the MLBPA called for "expanded free agency and salary arbitration rights along with almost doubling the major league minimum and increasing the money high-revenue teams share with the less-wealthy clubs," per the Associated Press, along with the addition of a "'competitive integrity tax' that would penalize teams dropping below a payroll floor" and for the "luxury tax threshold to rise to $300 million next year."

The owners responded by calling for a salary cap that would limit payrolls to $245.3 million in 2027 along with a salary floor of $171.2 million.

The salary floor is undoubtedly required—15 teams are currently below the proposed owner floor of $171.2 million, and six teams are below the $100 million mark. The Miami Marlins are the very bottom, with a payroll of just $78.8 million.

Six teams, meanwhile, are above the $245.3 million mark the owners have proposed as the salary cap, with the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets each exceeding the $300 million mark.

There is a major gulf between the top and bottom spenders. But from a player perspective, the top spenders are making up for the bottom spenders dedicating very few resources to their payrolls. The Mets ($334.1 million payroll) have almost equaled the combined payrolls of the Marlins, Cleveland Guardians, Chicago White Sox and the Washington Nationals ($342.5 million).

"Attendance, viewership, interest—by any measure you want to use, our game is moving in a positive direction," Baltimore pitcher and member of the MLBPA's executive subcommittee, Chris Bassitt, said in a statement Wednesday. "We've put forward proposals designed to continue that trend. Support, incentivize, and reward clubs who are committed to competing, especially small-market clubs. Compensate players fairly for the work they are doing."

"Our salary cap and floor proposal levels the playing field while sharing baseball revenue with the players 50-50 as we grow the game together," MLB spokesman Glen Caplin countered on Thursday. "Further, by sharing media revenue equally as part of our proposal, we can address another top fan concern of local TV blackouts."

The MLBPA has been resolute that it would never accept a salary cap. It's hard to imagine that changing now. It feels inevitable that a work stoppage is coming.