Even President Trump Wants An MLB Salary Cap
No major professional organization in America has a system in place that allows such a divide between the have's and the have not's as Major League Baseball. Donald Trump is not impressed.
With no salary cap in place, the chasm is massive between teams with billionaire owners that want to spend money and compete for World Series champions, and those that treat it more as a for-profit business. For 2026, the Los Angeles Dodgers have a payroll of nearly $422 million. The Cleveland Guardians and Miami Marlins each come in at well under $90 million.
Now the President of the United State is making his opinion known.
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"If you don't have a salary cap, you don't have a sport, because they can't help themselves," Trump told reporters. "Football has a salary cap. They should have done it a long time ago."
Sports fans of teams not in L.A. or New York have been clamoring for some sort of cap that can bring the big spenders down, and the miserly teams up.
Labor talks began last week and MLB team owners proposed a salary cap of about $245 million for 2027, with a floor of $171 million. The MLB Players Association has vowed never to accept a hard cap and immediately rejected the proposal.
Owners have also proposed a 50/50 split in revenue for the players, similar to the NBA and a revenue sharing plan that allows the smaller markets to increase payrolls.
The MLBPA made its first proposals public, which of course is a best-case scenario stance. The hope for all baseball fans is the two sides come to an agreement before the current Collective Bargaining Agreement expires on Dec. 1 – or at least before 2027 MLB Opening Day.
The owners attempted to get a salary cap in 1994, which resulted in a strike that cancelled the World Series. It was a shocking blow that took a decade to recover from. With baseball breaking records in revenue year-after-year, both sides surely want to ensure the 2027 season begins without a hitch.
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So, too, does Mr. President.
"It's shocking, frankly, that they didn't put a cap on many years ago," Trump told reporters. "They had a chance to do a cap, but they blew it."
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This story was originally published June 8, 2026 at 8:17 PM.