Jeff Passan announces important update regarding MLB salary Cap

On Friday, Passan went on The Pat McAfee Show and said baseball fans want to feel like their team has a chance, and right now many do not. He added that players are asking the same thing, including, «how do we beat the Dodgers.»

That line lands because the calendar is real. The current collective bargaining agreement expires on December 1, 2026, and the sport has already lived through a lockout that froze everything last time around.

Owners have been circling the same two words for years, salary cap, and Passan has reported it is shaping up as the core battleground for the next deal. The league side sees cost certainty, the union sees a hard ceiling on earning power.

The Dodgers are the easy symbol because they keep stacking talent, and the ripple is emotional as much as financial. Even teams that spend still hate the feeling of chasing a blueprint they cannot copy.

As a fan, I get the bitterness, because hope is the product, and baseball sells it every March.

But a salary cap is not a magic wand unless it comes with a real floor, and owners have not exactly built trust with the clubs that already treat payroll like an optional hobby. That is why players hear «cap» and brace for a fight, not a compromise.

MLB will point to parity and competitive balance, and plenty of fans will nod along, especially in markets that are stuck in permanent rebuild mode. The league's luxury tax system has not stopped the biggest spenders from staying big.

My take is Passan is tapping into something true, but the answer cannot just be squeezing the top. If the sport wants fewer hopeless Aprils, it also needs real pressure on the bottom, because nobody should be allowed to field a roster that is clearly not trying.

The scary part is that both sides might decide a work stoppage is worth it, and that is where 2027 starts feeling like a very real cliff. Until negotiations actually begin, fans are left staring at the Dodgers and wondering whether the next fight is already scheduled.