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This year in Major League Baseball, almost all the attention has been paid to on-field trends, as a slew of historic rule changes impacted almost every aspect of the game. Now, MLB is turning some of its attention back to the economics of the sport.
It was only 14 months ago that a brutal labor battle between the league and the MLB Players Association ended with a five-year collective bargaining agreement. Once again, the players were able to secure a system without a hard salary cap, and MLB remains the only one of the four major professional North American sports without some form of hard payroll floor or ceiling. It has led to some dramatic differences in team payrolls and some dramatic effects on the standings as well.
And this year, a record amount of spending in free agency pushed the difference in payrolls between the top and bottom teams to new extremes. During the 2022 season, approximately $226 million separated the payrolls of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Baltimore Orioles, the largest gap in the history of the sport — at the time. This season, it’s even larger, with a gap of nearly $299 million between the New York Mets and Oakland Athletics. But they’re not the only outliers: The A’s are one of three teams with an Opening Day payroll under $100 million; the Mets are one of 14 teams with payrolls of more than $200 million (only Steve Cohen’s team crosses the $300 million threshold).
Those differences could be tied to new extremes on the field, too. In 2022, there were a record-tying four 100-win teams, and another with 99 victories. Meanwhile, there were four 100-loss teams — also a record — and another one with 97 defeats. Those 100-win teams averaged nearly $226 million in payroll, while the 100-loss squads averaged just under $87 million.
Last year, the league created an “economic reform…
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