Ivy League Cubs

By: Jacob Zanolla

The 2024 World Series is a dream come true for Major League Baseball. The Major League Baseball commissioner’s office, that is. Having two of the most popular franchises in all of baseball facing off in the Fall Classic guarantees that ratings will be absolutely elite. We’ve already seen this come true, with game one being the most viewed game 1 in the World Series since 2017. Game 2 came close, receiving the same mark, just changed to 2018. The Dodgers and Yankees finished with the first and third most wins in all of baseball, respectively. The Phillies were second, although they didn’t make it past the New York Mets. 

This matchup is full of superstars, and has plenty of future Hall of Famers. When looking at their payrolls, New York is second ($303 Million) and Los Angeles in third ($249 Million) throughout baseball. Shohei Ohtani’s contract doesn’t really count of course, with his historic deferrals changing things up. Fans showed their frustrated last winter as Andrew Friedman opened up the checkbook, spending over $1 Billion for Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Teoscar Hernandez. This led the narrative that they’re trying to buy their way to a championship, which is true. However, most fans that say this root for a team that isn’t willing to spend as much money, and with it was more fair. 

People are always looking for solutions, and this is no different. A lot of sports have a salary cap. The NBA (basketball) has a max contract that can be given out to a player. The NHL and NFL have a hard cap that can’t be exceeded in terms of team payroll. Baseball is very different, with no salary floor at all. The luxury tax is similar to basketball in the sense of it being a soft cap. The tiny details aren’t really important right now, it’s the fact that other sports are doing the same thing. 

The players will never agree to a salary cap. That is a fact that I can say with 99% certainty. Proposing that will just lead to another strike, something no one wants to see or deal with. Several teams continue to go over the limit and pay the taxes, which continue to go up each year that team stays over the limit. While there are reasons it would be a smart idea, don’t get your hopes up.

A salary floor, however, is something that is more realistic and should be desirable. It should make all teams spend more money, and therefore try to compete for a playoff spot. It means the players will make more money, and takes away the negative affect that teams like the White Sox and Pirates have. Their owners aren’t willing to spend to improve their team, and it shows with the record that are being put up.

The Detroit Tigers are a team someone could use to argue against the salary floor. Their playoff roster was getting paid less than $19 Million total. Josh Hader, the Astros reliever who they won the AL Wild Card Series against, has a salary of $19 Million. Their whole 26-man roster is worth more than one reliever on the opposing team. That’s absolutely wild to think about, and shows that some teams don’t need to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to win games. 

There are a few types of teams in today’s kind of baseball. Some are willing to spend whatever it takes in order to win, such as the Yankees, Dodgers, and Mets. Others don’t need to spend insane amounts of money to have success, like the Guardians, Tigers, and Brewers, Other teams decide to be bad on purpose, like the Athletics, Pirates, White Sox, Rockies, and Angels. The solution to find a middle ground is out there, we just have to wait for someone to discover it. 

Photo Credit: Getty Images