Dodgers' Kyle Tucker contract pretty much guaranteed MLB salary cap for 2027

If there's one thing the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) will fight until their dying breath for, it's a world with no salary cap.

As the only major American sport without one, baseball players are in a unique position to maximize earnings when they hit free agency because there's no limit on what they can earn. Hence, contracts like the ones given to Shohei Ohtani (10 years, $700 million with huge deferrals), Juan Soto (15 years, $765 million), and Kyle Tucker (four years, $240 million) in recent offseasons aren't just possible — they really happen.

And yet, amidst all the narratives of the Los Angeles Dodgers "ruining baseball," there seems to be a renewed desire from the owners to push for a salary cap.

Dodgers' dominance on and off the field could lead to painful MLB lockout

In a report from The Athletic's Evan Drellich, it's clear that there will be a fervent, concentrated push by most MLB owners to implement a salary cap in baseball. The source of a lot of that ire and passion is, of course, the Dodgers, who have so thoroughly outclassed all other teams in free agency and on the field over the past two seasons that it's hard to see them being dethroned any time soon.

Remember, besides just Ohtani and Tucker (two record-breaking contracts in their own right), there's the record-breaking deal for World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the laughably under-market contract with Roki Sasaki, and back-to-back offseasons of signing the best reliever available (Tanner Scott and Edwin Díaz). Not to mention previous moves like signing Freddie Freeman or trading for and subsequently extending Mookie Betts.

"Owners, sources said, have not yet decided whether they will take the biggest run at the implementation of a cap since 1994, when the union's refusal to budge on the matter led to the cancellation of the World Series," Jeff Passan of ESPN wrote ... back in September of 2025, before the Dodgers signed Tucker or Díaz, and prior to them becoming the first repeat champions since the 2000 New York Yankees.

The current CBA will expire on Dec. 1, 2026. That may well lead to the most tense baseball negotiations since that infamous 1994 lockout. Whether a salary cap is implemented or not, the economics of the sport will almost certainly change irrevocably. It will be a strange time to be a fan.

The good news? For now, Dodgers fans can sit back, relax, and enjoy watching perhaps the most dominant lineup of the 21st century take the field on Opening Day.