MLB and Union Remain Far Apart As Low-Budget World Series Begins

MILWAUKEE — The unexpected low-budget World Series between the Rays and Brewers has become another flashpoint in an already bitter labor divide between MLB and the MLB Players Association. 

In separate, impromptu sessions with reporters before Game 1 of the Fall Classic at American Family Field, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and MLBPA interim executive director Bruce Meyer detailed opposing interpretations of what the Rays-Brewers matchup signifies. The World Series clash brings together clubs with the No. 19 and 27 luxury tax payrolls, differing heavily from the sport’s prevailing big-money trends. 

“The results of these playoffs obviously further undermine [the owners’] argument, and why they think they want a [salary] cap,” Meyer said in response to a Front Office Sports question. “But that’s not the reason why they want it, and it’s never been the reason why they want it. 

“The fact that they’re doubling down on the cap in the wake of what’s happening, and this World Series, just illustrates that it’s not about competitive balance. It’s not about teams not having hope. It’s about their desire to have a system that artificially suppresses player salaries, player movement, and player guarantees,” he said. 

Conversely, Manfred said the Milwaukee–Tampa Bay matchup is an outlier that cannot readily be replicated, while also pointing to the fervent fan response this week in Milwaukee.

“This shows that we leave a lot on the table with some of our smaller markets, by them not having an opportunity to compete on a regular basis,” Manfred said. 

Brew Crew Battle

The National League champion Brewers, the home team for the opening two games of the World Series, are a particular point of disagreement between Meyer and Manfred. 

For the past decade, the Brewers have been a consistently strong performer, on and off the field, despite operating in MLB’s smallest media market. Brewers owner Mark Attanasio, however, is among those openly advocating for a salary cap and floor, and said Thursday in a response to a FOS question that a cap would, “not only help us compete, but more importantly, all of the teams with lower payrolls, too, which is something also I think the fans want.”

Meyer objected to that sentiment.

“It is kind of sad that the league and the owners are once again focusing not on the greatness of the game, the greatness of the players, the greatness of the playoffs, but instead are focusing on telling consumers of their product that the product is broken,” he said.

“They continue to do that, including the owner of the Brewers. This is a team that’s had the best record in baseball two years in a row, made the playoffs eight of the last nine years, and are the favorites to win the World Series,” Meyer said. 

Manfred and league management are continuing to point to longer-term trends, including the fact that before this year, the Brewers had not been in the World Series since 1982.

“The Brewers have been a well-run franchise, but it’s been more than 40 years since we were here [for the World Series],” Manfred said. “Once every 40 years is not enough. … Our larger markets have had a statistically very significant advantage in terms of making the playoffs and going deep in the playoffs.”

After Meyer and Manfred made their separate remarks, the union leader and Attanasio had a one-on-one discussion in the Brewers’ dugout that lasted about five minutes. 

Ongoing Talks 

The latest back-and-forth, while somewhat predictable, is happening as club owners and players remain sharply divided across a range of economic and system-related issues. Management has made a series of dramatic proposals, including the cap and floor, significant restrictions on free agency, a retooled draft, and a 154-game regular season. The union remains fervently opposed to much of this, particularly the cap.

Beyond Attanasio, several other club owners and former executives have called for a salary cap and floor in recent days, including Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner, White Sox co-owner Mat Ishbia, and MLB commissioner emeritus Bud Selig.

“None of this has to be happening. The owners have made a choice,” Meyer said. “They’re going to make a choice, presumably, to lock out the players. … And this is all at a time when the league is doing incredibly well. Fans are coming out in record numbers, including in the markets where they say they supposedly don’t have hope.”

That lockout is expected when the current collective bargaining agreement expires in December.

“We have an unprecedented level of unanimity among ownership that this is something that we need to do,” Manfred said regarding management’s bargaining platform.