David vs. Goliath MLB playoffs won't prove anything about a salary cap -- even if both sides will say they do — SkimNews
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- Los Angeles Dodgers lead MLB with a $432.8 million competitive balance tax payroll (1st of 30 teams) and enter the LCS as two-time defending World Series champions, but face an 0-2 deficit against a 103-win Milwaukee Brewers club.
- Brewers ($154.7M, 19th), Tampa Bay Rays ($112.9M, 27th), and Cleveland Guardians ($93.1M, 29th) round out the LCS field — three of five franchises never to win a World Series, with the Guardians holding the longest drought (since 1948).
- Using year-end 40-man roster salaries, the Dodgers drop to $339.6M (second behind the Mets due to deferrals) while the Guardians fall below $75M, yet the gap between top and bottom spenders remains "absurd" either way.
- Dodgers nearly lost in both 2024 (fell behind the Padres in the NLDS) and 2025 (close calls in World Series Games 3 and 7), demonstrating that payroll dominance does not equal automatic championships.
- The author contends that no single postseason result — Dodgers three-peat, Guardians stunner, or all-low-payroll Brewers-Rays World Series — would prove anything about a salary cap, though both owners and the MLBPA are poised to spin whichever outcome occurs as definitive proof heading into CBA talks.
Why it matters: With the MLB CBA on the horizon, the LCS payroll spread — $93.1M to $432.8M — guarantees both ownership and the MLBPA will weaponize the result as proof for their side. The columnist's core warning: treating one October as a policy paper misreads how baseball actually works, since the Dodgers themselves have barely escaped their last two title runs.
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