Former Yankee and Hall of Fame Pitcher Believes MLB Should Have a Salary Cap

When the next collective bargaining agreement comes up for Major League Baseball, which is at 11:59 pm on December 1 of this year, former New York Yankees closer and 2019 Hall of Fame inductee Mariano Rivera believes a salary cap should be negotiated into it. 

Rivera Comments and More 

“Yes, there should be one, because it has to be fair to everybody,” Rivera said at an event in Miami on Friday, per CNBC. “It makes the competition better.”

This is quite the comment from Rivera, as not many have publicly supported a salary cap in baseball. Over his 19-year career, Rivera made $170 million. 

Right now, MLB is the only league in the United States without a salary gap. Thus, there's a massive difference in spending between teams like the New York Mets, Yankees, and Los Angeles Dodgers and teams like the Pittsburgh Pirates. Miami Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays. 

At the start of this season, 11 teams had a payroll of $200 million or more. 

Rivera added that any salary cap should also include language that the lowest spending teams invest in improving competition in some way, per CNBC. There's a deal in place now where all 30 MLB teams share revenue from local media money. 

“If I’m giving you money — from my pocket to you — to make the team better, I believe you should do that and not pocket it,” Rivera said.

CNBC notes that, according to The Wall Street Journal, the 10 lowest-spending teams in baseball have only increased their payrolls by 1.7% annually since 2019. With that, some believe there shouldn't be a salary cap, but rather a salary floor, which would force owners to spend. 

The current state of there being no salary cap dates back to the 1994-95 strike. Of course, having no salary cap provides more in player salaries. 

MLB Competitive Balance Debate

However, in baseball, there's a correlation between spending and winning. 

“We have a significant segment of our fans that have been vocal about the issue of competitive balance,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said earlier this year. “And in general, we try to pay attention to our fans.”

At the same time, over the last 10 seasons, there have been seven different World Series winners, 13 different squads have reached the World Series, and 18 teams have made it to the ALCS and NLCS, as CNBC notes. 

We'll see what MLB decides after this season on this front, and perhaps if they'll add further provisions involving gambling and prediction markets, which the league has told players count as gambling.