By Brady Burnett
Major League Baseball should implement a salary cap instead of the luxury tax and it isn't even a debate.
Strong arguments can be made that the luxury cap makes baseball more fun because the teams that want to win can spend as much money as they want and just have to pay a tax.
For example, the Los Angeles Dodgers went out at the 2021 trade deadline and acquired Max Scherzer and Trae Turner. This trade absolutely rocked the MLB world and made the Dodgers an already good team into an unstoppable team. Since the Dodgers were already over the luxury tax they did take into account which players they could afford but went after the best ones available.
Although this made the Dodgers more fun to watch, it made MLB less fun to watch and less competitive. A salary cap in baseball would make the sport more fun to watch and make a lot more teams competitive.
As of right now, an MLB team can spend $210 million dollars a year on players without penalty. When a team exceeds that amount, they are taxed 17.5% of their payroll. Clubs that exceed that threshold two, three, four consecutive years are taxed thirty, forty, and fifty percent rates, respectively. A salary would work as it does in every other sport, it would give every team the same amount of money to spend each year.
Adding a salary cap in baseball would reduce the number of super teams, give smaller market teams a more fair chance and make the sport more entertaining to watch. In today's MLB, Mike Trout is making $37.12 million dollars a year. While he is very deserving of this money, the Cleveland Guardians total payroll is $29 million. In no world should one player make more than an entire franchise is spending a year. Mike Trout plays for the Los Angeles Angels as this was one of the only teams that could afford him. This gives an unfair advantage for teams like the Yankee, Mets, Dodgers, etc. this is the main reason for baseball's popularity declining.
It is very popular in the big market states but declining in places like Ohio, Seattle, and Wisconsin are not going to want to watch if they have no super star talent. When a team acquires a super star player it brings a lot of buzz and fan attention. Fans will get excited and want to go to the ballpark to see these players on the field. If Seattle had an equal amount to try to get one of these players, and did, imagine how many fans you would draw in who want to watch a team that can compete with these super teams. Kids would want to go see their favorite player play, and get their jersey.
In 2022, the MLB is expediting the playoffs so one extra team from each league makes it in. As we've seen in the NFL these seven seeds don't put up much of a fight and it turns into an uncompetitive game after the first half. Now in baseball it is easier for these upsets because anything can happen and it only takes one player to make a difference. Imagine that the seven seed had an equal opportunity to get a $210 million dollar pitcher, the games would be more competitive and more fun to watch.
There are many people who believe that adding a salary cap in baseball would not do anything for baseball. One of the main pros with the luxury tax is that it incentivizes good teams to go out and get better. While this is true, spending the most money does not equal winning.
If that were the case the Yankees would have won every year. A look at the 2021 Dodgers I brought up earlier who went out and made the big trade. They spent $285,599,944 in 2021. The team that beat them in the NLCS, the Atlanta Braves, spent $115,664,387. The Dodgers more than doubled the Braves payroll and still lost. Having this big payroll doesn't guarantee a world series trophy every year but definitely can give a team a deep playoff run, and nobody besides Dodger fans want to see the Dodgers in a deep playoff run every year.
In conclusion, the luxury tax in baseball creates super teams, gives an unfair advantage to bigger market teams, and makes baseball less enjoyable each year. The MLB should look at the other three sports leagues and implement a salary cap. The salary cap would give each team a fair chance to sign a superstar player to build their around. Would you watch the regular season of your favorite sport if you knew which team would make a deep playoff run each year?
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