Jeff Passan

And that's the question that we are going to see the answer to over the next six months before the expiration of the deal and however many months beyond that it goes when the lockout that is very likely to happen occurs.

You know, I love coming on this show, and I say that with all sincerity.

It's because we get to have, like, a nuanced conversation with someone who gets it.

And most people take this very complicated issue and try to simplify it, which is, frankly, what MLB is preying on with fans at this point.

MLB understands that salary caps are popular because salary caps are something that we know and that most people don't want to do the work of digging into the minutiae that's really complicated and that gets into things...

that can be difficult to understand.

And your instinct, I think, is one that's frankly shared by owners.

Last time, as you said, the executive subcommittee, which is the eight most powerful players in the Major League Baseball Players Association, they're elected by their peers.

They're in the room.

They voted 8-0 to reject MLB's final offer, and they were overruled by a 26-4 vote among the rank and file.

But the reason I think that this time is a little bit different, and I might be wrong, like I might be overselling the solidarity of the players, but I think it's different because last time it was just pushing for some more marginal gains.

This time it goes against the very fiber of the unions being the one thing that they've been able to stand tall and proud about for the entirety of their 60-year history is that, no, we haven't gotten a salary cap.

The NFL has.

The NBA has.

The NHL has.

We're different.

We are not going to put any artificial constraints on the salaries that our players, the best of our players, are capable of earning.

And they take a ton of pride in that.

Now, is there a chance that the rank and file, that the mid-tier players, that the pre-arbitration players who are making under a million dollars say, you know, at the end of the day, we feel like this is going to be more financially beneficial for us?

Yeah, that's a realistic possibility.