After Exciting Season, MLB Faces Uncertain Future

by Marc Narducci | Oct 30, 2026

This could be a long offseason for fans of the Phillies or any other Major League Baseball team. That’s because there will be a likely lockout as the MLB powers to be look to implement a salary cap.

Of course, the timing for MLB couldn’t be worse.

When the Dodgers were winning two straight World Series, that seemed to uplift the owners’ cause. They have long suggested that the sport can’t exist with such a disparity in payrolls.

There is no doubt that having so much money is an advantage, but to suggest that the lower revenue teams can’t compete is simply inaccurate.

All one has to do is look at this year’s World Series participants, the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays.

According to Spotrac.com, Milwaukee was 19^th in MLB payroll for the 2026 season at $146.2 million. Tampa Bay was 28^th at $95.6 million.

Yet those two have been the best two teams in baseball during the regular season and postseason.

The owners might say that this year is an aberration, but both World Series participants have a long track record of recent success.

Milwaukee has qualified for the playoffs in eight of the past nine years, and the season the Brewers didn’t in 2022, they still won 86 games.

That is a long history of sustained success for the Brewers while not being even close to the leaders in payroll.

The Rays have been to the playoffs six of the last eight years and this is their second World Series appearance during this time. Tampa Bay lost to the Dodgers in the 2020 World Series.

So, there are two examples of low payroll teams that have prospered.

Want another?

What about the Cleveland Guardians, who lost in the American League Championship series 4-games-to-2 to Tampa this season.

This year Cleveland was 30^th and last in payroll at $74.4 million, which isn’t much more than the Dodgers are paying Shohei Ohtani for a season.

Cleveland is annually among the bottom dwellers in payroll and yet going back to 2016, the Guardians have appeared in the playoffs eight of 11 seasons, including one World Series appearance in 2016. Cleveland has reached the American League Championship Series in each of the past three seasons.

And having money to spend doesn’t ensure success. The New York Mets led MLB in payroll this year at $345.7 million and didn’t come close to reaching the postseason. The Mets went 74-88 and were dead last in the National League East.

Granted, the majority of the playoff teams had high payrolls, including the Phillies who were fourth in MLB at $291.9 million.

If a team is well-run, it can work on the margins and be successful as Milwaukee, Tampa Bay and Cleveland have proven not just this year but over a number of years.

It’s been suggested that a big reason that the owners want a salary cap is that it would help increase the franchise value, knowing there will be a limit on salaries.

Even that point may be hard to defend. Earlier this year, the small-market San Diego Padres sold for $3.9 million.

Can the current system be tweaked?

Absolutely, but the players simply won’t give into a salary cap unless they have a total change of heart. We will see the resolve of both sides. The current CBA runs out on Dec. 1 and the lockout is expected as soon as it expires.

And after such an exciting season, when lower payroll teams played like heavyweights, the last thing that the sport needs is to take a step back, which will happen no matter how long the expected lockout lasts.

Steve Carlton / Marc Narducci

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Author: Marc Narducci

After Exciting Season, MLB Faces Uncertain Future

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