There's a ticking time bomb that the MLB is staring right at its face. With the current Collective Bargaining Agreement set to expire on December this year, the threat of a potential lockout looms large. A work stoppage seems to be the most likely outcome here, as players and teams are seemingly failing to find a middle ground between player compensation and league parity. One team, in particular, is taking the heat as the primary reason why the lockout might happen: the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Dodgers have always been one of the teams that spends a lot on free agency. However, their acquisition of big-time free agents year after year has put them miles above their competition. Just months after winning their second consecutive World Series, Los Angeles signed star free agent Kyle Tucker.
Analyst Tim Kurkijan thinks that a lockout is happening after the CBA expires, and that the Dodgers are going to get the blame for it. While the analyst points out that LA does other things outside of spending money to be a better team, the blueprint that they've laid out for teams like the Mets and the Yankes pose a problem for other owners.
“But there's no doubt there are major issues in disparity among the small market teams and the big market teams. and it's not going to be solved by a salary cap because there's just no way the players are going to allow that to happen,” Kurkijan said on “The Dan LeBatard Show”. “So, are the Dodgers a part of the problem? Of course they are. But so are the Mets and the Yankees and a bunch of other teams and baseball needs to fix this and it is not going to be an easy fix.”
The idea of a salary cap has long been floated around as a solution to the Dodgers' (and, by extension, the Mets and the Yankees) spending. Many believe that LA's ability to spend money on free agents limits what other teams can do, as LA and the other big markets can offer more money than small-market teams. However, the MLB Players Association is firmly against this, as it would limit how much money players can make significantly. This clash in philosophies between the two parties is what will likely lead to a lockout in the near future.
