Make Your Pitch
With MLB owners again pressing for a salary cap, the sides remain far apart.
We’ve talked about this before, but sometimes it seems inevitable that baseball can’t just let fans enjoy the current season without forcing them to worry about the next one.
And while I don’t just mean those shirtless dudes in St Louis who seem to have nothing to worry about other than Pete Crow-Armstrong, that’s especially true in the wake of the initial exchanges on a potential collective bargaining agreement between MLB and the Players’ Association that could threaten a lockout in 2027.
Chris Landers at Fansided writes how MLB wants a significant restructuring of its current business model and that its salary cap-and-floor proposal “gives the league’s worst owners exactly what they want.”
As Evan Drellich at The Athletic wrote, “In baseball, the great game of statistics, one set of numbers has grown more important than the rest.”
Those numbers, of course, are franchise values. As Drellich points out, the San Diego Padres “are about to change hands in a deal that values the team at $3.9 billion overall, a record price for an MLB club by about $1.5 billion.” But yet, Drellich argues, while every team continues to grow in value, “what’s perhaps most irksome to baseball owners… is that they keep getting trounced by owners in other leagues. The average National Basketball Association team is worth $5.4 billion, and the average National Football League team $7.1 billion, per Forbes.”
As Ray Ratto wrote at Defector, the owners “want a salary cap because they want to cash out.”
The players and their union, obviously, still want no part of any cap.
Fansided’s Landers concludes:
“Wherever you fall in this debate, what’s inarguably true is that the league’s smallest markets have the most to gain under a cap system. Or, more accurately, the owners in the league’s smallest markets — because really, that’s what we’re talking about here. You can look at that salary floor and rejoice, but the reality is that said money is simply coming out of the rest of the league’s pockets. The likes of the Marlins, Guardians and Rays have their lives made easier without sacrificing a thing, all while their franchise valuations skyrocket (as is always the case under capped systems; Wall Street loves nothing more than cost control).
“And really, what have they done to deserve that? Spend below their means for years on end? The fact of the matter is that, payroll disparity aside, MLB does not have a competitive-balance problem; just look at the current playoff picture, which features everyone from Tampa to Cleveland to Sacramento to Milwaukee to Minnesota. Now their competition has been artificially curtailed, and players are made to sacrifice, all without any real incentive to change their behavior. If you want to fix what’s broken in baseball — to the extent that anything is broken at all — you can start there.”
The emotions almost universally stirred by baseball’s owners even became part of the domestic political debate in the state of Maine. As the New York Times reported:
“In a move that appeared to be part stunt, part troll and part tugging on the heartstrings of the region’s die-hard sports fans, Graham Platner, the presumptive Democratic Senate nominee in Maine, aired a commercial during a Red Sox game blaming the team’s ownership for its woes. The network that carried the game — and is owned by the team — stopped showing the ad again partway through the broadcast, according to the Platner campaign.”
Maybe it was for copyright violation. Like a lot of things in that particular senate race, who really knows? The Red Sox still lost.
So while, as you’d expect, there’s a clear distance between the two sides in the labor dispute, fans and players are concerned about losing games if the situation isn’t resolved.
The Phillies’ Bryce Harper told ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez that, while he was hardly surprised by the league’s salary cap pitch, the bottom line is that for fans “there’s a lot of other things to do than just watch baseball.”
“We’re coming from two different areas, but we both have to understand our game is in a great position right now to succeed, and we can’t lose that momentum,” Harper told ESPN from Dodger Stadium on Sunday morning. “We can’t lose that momentum as players. We can’t lose that momentum as owners. So wherever we’re at – whatever they’re coming with, whatever we’re coming with – you have to come to an agreement before any of that happens because there’s other things to do.”
But, really, where else can you spend a day drinking at unreasonably inflated prices then take your shirt off and wave it around like a yahoo, among an indeterminate number of fellow yahoos?
Have you tried Cricket?
As if the CBA negotiations wasn’t enough, the notion of expansion and realignment, which MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred wants to implement by the time his period in office is due to end in 2029, is again a hot topic of conversation – at least among fans.
Here’s just one suggested outcome, for example:
Bob Nightengale writes at USA Today on how things might go if expansion doesn’t happen.
“USA TODAY Sports asked a handful of MLB owners and owners and executives for their take on the potential of expansion, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to the ongoing nature of the situation.
“I don’t think it’s going to happen, I really don’t,” one longtime MLB executive said.
Said one owner: “Expansion would just be stupid.”
Said another owner: “It’s not anything that’s being discussed right now, I know that.”
And in the event Manfred does get his way, Nightengale concludes:
“The two expansion cities will likely be low-revenue teams with small TV markets, but they would be sharing the same national TV revenue pie as the Dodgers, Yankees and the other big boys.
“Those teams certainly won’t be paying money into revenue sharing,” one owner said, “so it will be less money for everyone else. What’s the added benefit, to get more fans engaged? I’m not sure expansion will drive fan engagement in either market. So, we’ll see what happens once our labor deal is done.
“But I really don’t understand the logic for expansion, at least not yet.”
See Also:
Shut Out (From August 2025)
Map, Squiggles, Action (From August 2025)
Paying The Cost To Be The Boss
Substack – Just Baseball (The 2026 season so far)
**
Batting Around
We’re just over a third of the way through the season and, that impending doom of the CBA notwithstanding, we’ve been trying our best to enjoy it. Mostly. How far down is too far down already, Sports Illustrated asks.
June kicked off Pride month with yet again a single perennial outlier among MLB teams. Y’all know by now who it is.
As Craig Calcaterra wrote in his newsletter this morning, the latest guide by OutSports’ Ken Schultz to the 29 other pride events across baseball says:
“Of course, there are a few clubs whose Pride Nights can be summed up as “at least we’re gayer than the Texas Rangers.” And alas, said Rangers are still approaching Pride like they plan to move to Belarus.”
And
“Most baseball teams would want their ratio of Pride Nights to segregationist statues to be a positive number. But the Rangers have taken a different approach. Let’s see if that works out for them!”
Talking of monuments in a somewhat more positive light, at their home game on July 18, the Chicago Cubs are set to unveil a commemorative archway at their Gallagher Park site adjacent to Wrigley celebrating the 10th anniversary of the 2016 World Series victory.
Elsewhere on the North Side, though, there’s the sort of sad saga that, really, no-one wants to see.
On the field, we’ve had another period of notable performances and remarkable storylines particularly on the mound. How about being part of a team no-hitter on your MLB debut? Take a bow, Alimber Santa, celebrating early this year.
Meanwhile, a streak came to an end and there were some nasty numbers by the kids:
It seems hardly a day goes by without Shohei Ohtani doing Shohei Ohtani things…
The Athletic called him “otherworldly”. But yet, he ranked only third here:
Looking back, we saw history – kind of – repeat, but probably not the kind of emulation Angels’ outfielder Jo Adell would be happy with.
And while Jimmy Kimmel and Donald Trump had some things to say about aliens, we were reminded they may have already been here. Specifically at Comiskey Park.
We also passed the anniversary of Armando Galarraga’s perfect game that wasn’t.
See Also:
Nobody’s Perfect (From June 2025)
*
With the Knicks taking game one of the NBA finals last night, perhaps edging closer to letting New York sports fans forgive Mayor Mamdani for ruining the Mets’ season, kids’ bedtimes have been officially repealed while the quest goes on.
But hey, what’s that compared with a rookie’s shaving habits? (It seems to be working, though…)
Give the Mets their due, despite the team with the highest opening-day payroll currently languishing 15 games back at the foot of the NL East, it’s 40 years since this, and depending on your opinion, either the best or cheesiest hype video by a baseball team in my lifetime.
**
Finally, as baseball this week remembered Lou Gehrig and the enduring campaign for a cure to ALS, it was nice that people also took time to recognise the work of the indispensable Sarah Langs, without whom following baseball would feel a lot less human.
Jake Mintz wrote:
“Very, very little gets by her keen gaze and lightning-quick mind. Her brain whirs like a supercomputer — calculating, pondering, sharing and on to the next. Over time, Langs has developed a preternatural, real-time sense for what matters and what doesn’t within the baseball landscape. That allows her to turn observation into insight in a matter of seconds.
“I recently asked her how she does it, how she fostered this deep understanding of the rare, the singular, the unique. In her eyes, it all starts with genuine curiosity.
“Definitely a combination of innate and learning by doing and paying attention,” she explained. “This job I have is an extension of the questions asked over dinner and while watching games throughout my childhood in my family. I’m just answering them now.”
Baseball is the best.
See Also:
Benny And My Mother (From May 2025)
Better Angels (From April 2026)
Second To None (From July 2025)
**
Tickets Please
A little note I scribbled along with that May 24, 2001 game between the Yankees and Red Sox, just reads:
“Mussina vs Pedro Martinez. Yanks win 2-1. Bernie Williams solo HR. Previous night, Jeter went 5-5 in Cone’s return.”
It always gives me pause when I pull up tickets here from pre-September 2001. Especially so with the 25th anniversary coming up this year. I went to so many games in New York that year.
Given what it meant to the city, surely it can’t be hard for the MLB schedulers to arrange for the Mets and Yankees to play each other every year on 9/11? They could alternate venues each season and part of the proceeds could go to first responder charities.
As I wrote previously, I always try to go to a game that day for everyone who can’t. This coming 9/11, I’ll try to be in The Bronx.
A big part of baseball, I think, is about collective memory and reminding ourselves why we’re lucky enough to be at a game on a particular day, as well as remembering what brought us here.
See Also:
Last week’s Tickets Please
(no Reading The Field this week – will catch up next time)
**
Game Notes w/e May 31
Monday, May 18; Philadelphia Phillies vs Cincinnati Reds, Citizens’ Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA.
At the conference I’m attending, one of the hotel staff told me she likes baseball but only goes to games when it’s Bark in the Park. She said she and her canine companion Logan go mostly at the Phillies, or in spring training, but they’re always willing to travel for a good dog day out. The nearby minor league Trenton Thunder have several dog days during the season, apparently, called Waggin’ Wednesdays, I think.
Sadly, there were no dogs at Citizens Bank tonight, but you know what? Orion would be a good dog name, and Orion Kerkering got the win as the Phils beat the Reds 5-4.
I left after the stretch and managed to make it back downtown in time to see the conclusion in the bar across the street from the hotel.
Since Don Mattingly took over after the sacking of Rob Thomson, the Phils went 6-0 in his first six series in charge.
Jayson Stark and Matt Gelb write at The Athletic:
“The Phillies were a disastrous 9-19 when Mattingly was hired on April 28. They’d lost six consecutive series. As we mentioned, they haven’t lost one since. And that stunning boomerang act puts them — and Mattingly — in even more historic territory.
“Only one other team since 1900 — Dave Parker’s 1975 Pirates — has turned around and won seven series in a row immediately after losing their previous six in a row. Mattingly’s 2026 Phillies can still join them if they win this series against the Reds on Wednesday.”
Sadly for Donny Baseball, it wasn’t to be…
*
Wednesday, May 20; Philadelphia Phillies vs Cincinnati Reds, Citizens’ Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA.
Last night, the Reds took the second game 4-1 and that was the score when I arrived at the top of the fourth today.
The conference wrap-up and getting down to the park on SEPTA meant I got here too late – just an hour or so after first pitch – to pick up a score card, but I was just glad to get to see some more baseball before leaving (and ahead of the weather that was set to roll in that afternoon and eventually led to some delays on Amtrak).
It was Andrew Abbott against Aaron Nola and the crowd were treated to some cool Philly hype videos featuring Rob McElhenney and the ubiquitous Phanatic (somewhat weirdly – on what was a kids group day – to a soundtrack of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs”).
So that seventh series, like the Seventh Seal, proved elusive as the Reds took the win 9-4, with their rising star Sal Stewart hitting his 12th HR of the season.
*
Thursday, May 28; Baltimore Orioles vs Toronto Blue Jays, Camden Yards, Baltimore MD.
It turned out to be just a perfect day for baseball, but not so much for O’s reliever Anthony Nunez, who gave up a bases loaded walk in the eighth, which proved decisive in a 2-1 Blue Jays win.
*
Sunday, May 31; Baltimore Orioles vs Toronto Blue Jays, Camden Yards, Baltimore MD.
It was Star Wars weekend and Youth Sports Day, so the park was pretty full for a lunchtime start.
Another solid performance by Kyle Bradish, the sort that isn’t reflected in his 3-6 record, as the Orioles took this one 9-5.
But the dominant story afterwards was probably how Blue Jays outfielder Jesus Sanchez had to leave the game hurt in the 6th inning after playing “catch” – or rather, not – with a young fan.
See Also:
Previous Game Notes
***
As always, thanks for reading, especially since this column turned out to be something of a catch-up. I’m back in Belfast now for a few weeks, but will be back for a very special July 4 celebration.
During the regular season I aim to write a baseball-related post midweek and then a politics wrap at weekends. I’ll try my best to keep them separate but as you might expect, one has been way more sane than the other, especially at this confusing and crucial moment.
There’s a full States of Play archive here.
*
Finally, if you think you might like to take part in a simple Q&A for the project, reflecting on your memories of baseball and politics; along with where you think the country stands right now and where it might be headed, I’d love to hear from you, and you can email me at steve@statesofplayproject.com.
You can see the ones I’ve done over previous seasons here.
Here’s how it works:
You send me a brief bio – a few paragraphs telling me who you are, what you do, why you love baseball – as well as a couple of pics of yourself, ideally at a ballgame, and in return I send you nine questions, one per inning. You take as long as you like to email your answers back, then I’ll make sure you’re happy with the final draft before it’s published.
The first two questions are always the same for every participant: what was the first ballgame you went to and what do you remember about it? And then what was the first election you voted in and what do you think have been the most significant changes in our politics since then?
I’ll round out the other questions based on your interests and what you tell me in the bio, as well as anything else you might like to talk about. It’ll finish up with your thoughts on where things might be headed. Obviously, you’ll get final approval before it gets posted.
Sound good? Drop me a note. I look forward to hearing from you and hopefully see you at a ballgame.
*
Platner is a Democratic nightmare. And whatever happened to Joe Piscapo?