Opinion By J1 Reporter Reilly O’Brien

It seems that every offseason there is a new broken record for the highest contract in Major League Baseball history. This past winter Juan Soto signed a contract with the New York Mets for 15 years $765 million. This contract, along with the Dodgers summer of spending, is slowly pushing MLB to a lock-out, creating unrealistic expectations for all teams. 

In 2009 the Ricketts family bought the Chicago Cubs for around $800 million. This is less than what Met’s owner Steve Cohen makes in a couple of days. The Los Angeles Dodgers found a loophole, deferred money. Shohei Ohtani seemed to have signed a monster contract worth $700 million across 10 years. However, because of money being pushed off for years to come, Ohtani will be paid until 2043. 

MLB not having a salary cap is slowly bleeding the league dry. How are the Miami Marlins supposed to compete with the New York Yankees who can offer payments of millions of dollars different across 30 years? They can’t, even teams like the St. Louis Cardinals, who do have a history of winning, cannot compete. The Cardinals missed out on every single free agent they went after, almost always losing out to a super team whose owner had the deepest pockets. 

I think that MLB needs to implement a salary cap before the 2026 season. It is imperative that each team can have the same chance. The league is already struggling for relevance, as people who don’t already love the sport are extremely unlikely to sit down and watch a 2 and a half hour game. Creating a culture where the Dodgers and Yankees are the only team with any promotion from the league kills the small market, it ruins the chances of making new fans of growing teams. 

Scott Boras, commissioner of MLB can make as many rule changes as he wants. Trying to make the game more marketable, more exciting, does not work for those that already love baseball. It especially won’t work if teams who desperately need to improve cannot compete. People want to support their hometown team, they want to keep seeing history play out. This is becoming impossible for fans of the Chicago White Sox and Colorado Rockies, teams so awful that they will never have the ability to grow without a salary cap giving them the same shot.

People who actually love baseball don’t want to watch three teams take over the entire league. It isn’t fun as someone who is a fan of the Chicago Cubs, a team that historically doesn’t spend money on anything. Having a salary cap gives everyone an equal chance, and will actually grow the league in a truly valuable way.