Max Muncy sets the record straight about Dodgers' role in impending lockout

Whether fans or even pundits agree with it or not, the Dodgers are going to be the team all of the owners point fingers at during Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations at the end of this calendar year.

Even if they can agree that what the Dodgers are doing is not outside the rules (which it isn't), they can still argue that the current system is unfair and only LA, and maybe the Mets and Blue Jays, have the capacity to exploit it to this level.

We all know what the players want: they want to make as much money as they possibly can. Owners will demand a cap, players will resist with all the MLB Players Association's might.

Max Muncy was asked about it during an appearance on Foul Territory, and he was diplomatic in some pointed questions from Erik Kratz and AJ Pierzynski.

"Everyone's saying 'It's all the Dodgers fault there's gonna be a work stoppage and a salary cap," Pierzynski said. "Can you guys handle that pressure this year?"

"We just try to worry about ourselves. The fallout happens after that," Muncy said. "The work stoppage thing ... we're not adding anymore fuel to that fire. If that happens, it was always gonna happen, and it wasn't gonna happen only because of us."

Max Muncy didn't take Foul Territory's bait when talking about Dodgers' role in impending lockout

Muncy politely excused himself from going further into the issue, which is both unsurprising and fair. We already know what his stance is, because it's what every players' stance is. Bryce Harper made it pretty clear when he reportedly had a verbal altercation with Rob Manfred when the Commissioner visited the Phillies' clubhouse and tried to broach the idea.

The MLBPA's executive director Tony Clark called the implementation of a cap "institutionalized collusion."

"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," he continued. "We will continue to make proposals to do that and believe that that's the best way to go."

Muncy was right, though — this was always probably going to happen. There was a four-month lockout from 2021-2022, the last time the CBA expired, that pushed Opening Day back to April 7. The players union vehemently disagreed with a salary cap then, and they're going to again.

It was a weird like of questioning from Kratz and Pierzynski, especially if they were going to get the scoop of the century by tricking Muncy into going into an anti-cap tirade. What he ended up saying was probably the best way to go about it, though. The Dodgers will do what the Dodgers will do. They'll keep their heads down, and they'll probably keep winning.