Follow the money, they say, and you’ll find… well, you know. Corruption. Excess consumption. Absolute control. Or as in the case of the current sports landscape… all of those. College cagers shave points, pro hoopers consort with fixers, teenage QBs make millions, an MLB strike or lockout this year is all but certain. Some legal, some not, but all driven by a quest for the almighty dollar… the ultimate factor behind virtually every sporting event on your screen today.
MLB Money Ball is Coming
Let’s consider the legal but ludicrous finances that make stardom and a long-term contract on a Major League Baseball team the best possible scenario… incredible work if you qualify. Of course you don’t, making the case for those few dozen freakishly talented players who can pitch or hit a dancing 100 mph pea on a half second’s notice.
Kyle Tucker is one of those guys. He just signed a 4-year, $240 million contract. While some of the money will be deferred, you can do the math on the annual salary, and yes, you might get by on $60 mil a year. Others hit for higher average and power, but Tucker’s claim to fame is contact. He rarely strikes out in an era of swing-and-miss for the fence. But hold on. Our concern is not Tucker. It’s the team that likely overpaid for his services as the best available free agent hitter… and may have put a final nail in this season’s coffin.
The Dodgers Only Seem to Print Money
No surprise that team is the two-time defending World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers who make and spend money like a 911 on the 405. The Dodgers have and do everything right. In a huge revenue market for starters, they develop talent, make savvy investments, market with precision, and most of all… win. They are the new Yankees and hats off to them. Here’s the rub though. The twenty-nine other MLB teams can’t keep up… with any of it… the marketing, money, and most of all… the wins. Too bad, you say, fair is fair. Not fair is what small market teams say (not aloud) about the Dodgers outspending them four or five to one.
And back to the talented Mr. Tucker whom others say they could never afford, but the Dodgers added as icing on their championship cake. The combined $130 million salaries of Tucker ($60M) and all-world superstar Shohei Ohtani ($70M/$68M deferred) is more than the total payroll for a third of MLB teams. To be clear, Tucker is very good, but nowhere near Ohtani’s skill or output. The Dodgers signed the Tucker check… because they could. Soon, however, the days of having and eating cake only and always for yourself… may be coming to an end.
Follow the Money, Cap the Spending?
The Dodgers could add Tucker as their 9th $20M+ player, in short, because MLB does not stop them from doing so. MLB is the only major sport that does not have a salary cap, a limit on how much a team can spend on payroll. Sure, there’s a target salary figure and a team exceeding that sum will pay a luxury tax, a financial penalty. Think of it like the bank or credit card company charging you a big late fee. The Dodgers have a solution for this roadblock, or pebble on the highway as they see it. Blow through it fast and furious, pay the fee, add the talent, keep winning no matter what it costs.
Never Say Never Unless You Mean Never
In 2026, this rich-get-richer strategy will be tested. The MLB Players Association Collective Bargaining Agreement with the league expires at season’s end. Team owners will argue some version of a salary cap must be in the new player deal to preserve competitiveness and baseball’s future. LA and their host of wealthy Dodgers including Kyle Tucker will be exhibit one. Argue all you want, say the players and their union. They have vowed to never agree to a salary cap, a golden goose they refuse to shackle, much less kill.
Baseball’s Real Winners and Losers
Which brings our baseball-is-really-about-money story to one of two ugly scenarios. The owners lock out the players and cease baseball operations as they did to delay the 2022 season and secure a CBA with the players union. Or the players strike as they infamously did in 1994, ending all play mid-season and putting a fans’ bullseye on baseball. Some contend the game never fully recovered.
The question may be which side acts first. Public opinion driven by never-ending social media may suggest the first side to lockout or strike would suffer endless blame. But that may be the better strategic move to win this looming dollar duel. And what’s more important than extra zeros on one’s check, right? Neither the owners nor players will win any such faceoff. But you can be sure who will lose.
Opening Day is two months away, if fans get there. Play Ball… we hope.
