MLB is ‘thriving’ — but it may not be enough to thwart a potential lockout

ATLANTA — Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association agree that the game is doing well. 

“When I look at the game right now — the game, the business — our sport is really thriving,” commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday at a meeting with the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. “The product on the field is the best product that we have put out there in a very long time.” 

“Our game is in a good place,” MLBPA executive director Tony Clark said. “Attendance is up, butts in the seats, viewership is up. And we’ve got some of the best players that the game has seen in some time.” 

And yet the two sides are headed for battle. 

Baseball’s current collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1, 2026, and Clark said the players are preparing for the event of a lockout “while hoping that is indeed not the case.” That is typically the case and was most recently the case, the players locked out for 99 days in 2022 before agreeing to a five-year deal. 

Expected to be at the center of the discussions are the owners pushing for a salary cap and the players pushing back against what Clark called “institutionalized collusion.” 

Manfred said he does not attempt to persuade the players by invoking the words “salary cap” but instead tries to convey that the competitive-balance problem in the league — with teams like the Dodgers, Mets and Yankees paying at least $300 million in salary and luxury taxes this year while clubs such as the Marlins are not cracking $100 million — “is real.” 

“When I talk to the players, I don’t try to convince them that a salary cap system would be a good thing,” Manfred said. “Literally what I say to them is, I identify a problem in the media business and explain to them that owners need to change to address that problem. 

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred opens the 2025 MLB Draft at The Coca-Cola Roxy. Brett Davis-Imagn Images

“I then identify a second problem that we need to work together, and that is that there are fans in a lot of our markets who feel like we have a competitive balance problem.” 

Manfred wants players to consider whether the current system, in which penalties exist for high-spending teams but there is no firm payroll number they cannot cross, is “the perfect system.” 

Just about any union would have issues in limiting workers’ potential earnings. 

Clark said the union has “never been opposed” to a salary floor that would ensure teams such as the Marlins pay more to level the field, but such a system often has come with a cap that he argued would be bad for the players and the game. 

“A cap is not about growing the game. That’s not what a cap is about,” Clark said. “As has been offered publicly, a cap is about franchise values and profits. That’s what a cap is about. 

“If there are ways that we need to improve the existing system to polish some of the rough edges that otherwise exist, we have made proposals to do that. We will continue to make proposals to do that and believe that that’s the best way to go. A salary cap historically has limited contract guarantees associated with it; literally pits one player against another; is often what we share with players as the definitive noncompetitive system — it doesn’t reward excellence. It undermines it.” 

Clark acknowledged the ongoing federal investigation regarding a licensing firm partly owned by the MLBPA. 

“We understand that there is an investigation going on right now, and we have and we will continue to fully cooperate with that investigation,” Clark said. “No timeline, no nothing else.” 

Amid raids from ICE all over the country, Clark acknowledged that ensuring baseball players — many of whom are from Latin America — remain safe is a “concern.” 

Major League Baseball Players Association Executive Director Tony Clark answers a question during a news conference. AP

“We communicate with our players,” Clark said. “We told them to carry their documentation wherever they go. We ensure the lines of communication are open such that if they are having an issue or a family member’s having an issue, how best can we help support them.” 

MLB stripped the All-Star Game from Atlanta in 2021 following Georgia passing laws that restricted voting. 

Those laws remain, yet MLB returned to Atlanta this year for the event. 

“I think the reason to come back here itself — if you walk around here and see the level of interest, the level of excitement, the great facility, the support this market has given to the Atlanta Braves and baseball generally, that’s a really, really good reason to come back here,” Manfred said. 

Earlier this year, amid President Trump’s interest in DEI programs, MLB changed much of the wording on its website for its Diversity Pipeline Program. 

“Sometimes you have to look at how the world is changing around you and readjust where you are,” Manfred said. “There were certain aspects of some of our programs that were very, very explicitly race- and/or gender-based. We know … that people in Washington were aware of that. We thought that it was important to recast our programs in a way to make sure that we can continue on with our programs and continue to pursue the values that we have always adhered to without tripping what could be legal problems.” 

Despite the many complaints from notably Luis Severino and many players around the league, Manfred said he believed the A’s will remain in West Sacramento for the next several years before moving to Las Vegas. 

Manfred said the league believes the Rays will be able to play next year, at least at some point, at Tropicana Field, their home before Hurricane Milton blew off its roof. 

While the Rays playing at Steinbrenner Field is believed to be a one-year solution, Manfred said there are “contingency plans” if the Trop is not ready when the 2026 season begins. 

Manfred remained open to allowing players to participate in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, a notion players want but would be challenging to schedule. Manfred envisions keeping the All-Star Game that year and extending the break, though concessions would have to be made. 

“It is possible to take it and play the All-Star Game in its normal spot, have a single break that would be longer obviously, but still play 162 games without bleeding into the middle of November,” he said.