MLB’s next collective bargaining agreement negotiations are still a year away from needing to be done, but it has been made very clear that the biggest topic of conversation will be the potential imposition of a salary cap.
Fueling the arguments in favor of such a system is the presence of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who recently won their second straight World Series with a payroll in the neighborhood of $400 million. You would imagine that few members of the Dodgers would want anything that could limit spending, but manager Dave Roberts had a surprising perspective on Wednesday.
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Appearing on Prime’s “Good Sports,” Roberts was asked by host Kenan Thompson if baseball should have a salary cap. He didn’t say yes, but he also said he’d be fine with the change:
“You know what? I’m all right with that. I think the NBA has done a nice job of revenue sharing with the players and the owners. But if you’re going to kind of suppress spending at the top, I think that you got to raise the floor to make those bottom-feeders spend money, too.”
That’s the same man who, a month and a half ago, openly mocked detractors who said his team was “ruining baseball.” He apparently also has some thoughts on the “bottom-feeders.”
The suggestion of a salary floor in addition to a salary cap, as Roberts throws out, has been speculated as the compromise that could get players to consider the idea of a cap, which has been a nonstarter in MLB labor negotiations going back to the advent of free agency. If team owners dig in, it would make a labor stoppage a near certainty.
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MLB remains the only major North American sports league to not have a salary cap. In 2025, CBT payrolls range from the Dodgers and New York Mets ($338 million) to the Chicago White Sox ($92 million) and Miami Marlins ($85 million).
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When counting only players who were on the Dodgers’ 40-man roster at the end of 2025, their payroll came in at $347 million, per Cot’s Contracts. However, when adding in the factors that go into a CBT payroll, such as player benefits and salaries for players no longer on the roster, that number goes all the way up to $415 million, the largest in MLB history. The Dodgers will also pay about $167 million in luxury tax, meaning that, from a CBT standpoint, they just won a title that cost $582 million.
The team already has $320 million on the books for 2026 and is likely to add more, given holes in its outfield and bullpen.
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However, it’s hardly a given that a salary cap would spell destruction for L.A.’s current run, as it also possesses one of the most advanced player development pipelines in MLB and a farm system considered to be one of the best in baseball.
Roberts is well aware that if the Dodgers suddenly need to lean on young, less-expensive talent, they have the resources to do so. A salary cap would remove only one way the Dodgers are outpacing the competition.