The 2027 baseball season is in big trouble. For five years, MLB owners have been quietly putting together a $2.25 billion war chest to pay for a lockout. The collective bargaining agreement ends on December 1, 2026, and both sides are getting ready for the battle instead of finding a middle ground.

Owners want a salary cap so that teams like the Dodgers can’t spend $500 million a year. Players will fight to keep spending as much as they want. But someone is going fall short in the 2027 season. Maybe the whole season.

Matt Spiegs, who works for 104.3 The Score, talked about how much work MLB put into preparing for the season in exclusive interviews with teams.

“I talked to sources within multiple MLB franchises. Over the last five years, MLB has been withholding a small portion of each team’s share of national television money as well as a portion of each team’s share of the licensing revenue, and these dollars have been consolidated by MLB to what will be given to teams next year as a war chest, a 75 million dollars per team war chest that should allow each franchise to withstand the potential loss of an entire baseball season. That’s the new information that I was able to confirm and put out today.”

Spiegs’s declaration explained how the league built up its financial safety net.

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$75 million per franchise multiplied by 30 teams makes a $2.25 billion emergency fund. The war chest strategy shows that owners are more united than ever on how to implement the salary cap.

Withholding TV money and combining licenses are planned financial moves aimed at the Dodgers’ spending power. LA will pay Kyle Tucker $119 million a year. Per league sources, this is the salary for their “fourth-or-fifth-best player.”

This expensens show why owners now think the current luxury tax system doesn’t do a good job of keeping payroll differences under control.

The Dodgers’ two straight championships, made possible by more than $500 million a year payrolls, caused the same competitive imbalance that owners are upset about. MLB’s $2.25 billion war chest gives owners the strength to go through with a canceled 2027 season if they have to put salary cap limits in place.

Jeff Passan of ESPN has put it plainly.

“Owners are angry, too. Their franchise valuations aren’t growing as quickly as their billionaire peers in other sports, and they blame the system that governs Major League Baseball. They don’t like it. Nearly every owner believes MLB needs a salary cap.”

Passan continued, “They think a salary cap will fix everything, even if it means jeopardizing the 2027 season.”

Per Passan, owners see salary caps as a way to keep the competition fair, just like the NHL’s hard cap structure.

The financial damage could be huge.

In 2024, MLB generated $12 billion in revenue. If you lose the whole 2027 season, that goes away. Players know that owners purposely kept TV and licensing money from them to pay for a lockout. However, the players’ union has a bigger problem.

Stars want to spend as much as they want, but average players might be better off with a salary cap.

Salary caps are popular with the public. And both sides were ready for war, not talks. The December 1 deadline is 18 months away, but neither side thinks they can reach an agreement.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Dodgers are still building their dynasty, even though labor talks could put baseball’s future in jeopardy.

Kiké Hernández returns to the Dodgers as labor war threatens MLB season

Kiké Hernández officially announced that he would be returning to Los Angeles for the 2026 season. This will be his fifth time with the team, where he has spent most of his career. The Dodgers’ decision to re-sign the veteran utility man is another power move.

They get a player with proven postseason experience while the salary cap debate looms, which could change how teams like Los Angeles build their rosters.

Hernández posted about his excitement on Instagram in his usual enthusiastic way: “What else did you expect?!!! 3 in a row has a nice ring to it! #WeBack.”

The Dodgers signed him for $4.5 million, and they moved Evan Phillips to the 60-day injured list while he recovers from Tommy John surgery. This gave them more options on their roster.

Hernández’s return shows that LA won’t slow down. Even when the owners are getting ready for a labor dispute, Hernández and the team are getting ready for a best-of-three.

Last season, Hernández played 92 games and hit .203 with 10 home runs, while playing five different positions. He couldn’t play for seven weeks in July and August, though, because of a left elbow issue. Yet, October changed his story completely.

Hernández started every postseason game and hit .379.

Then, in NLCS Game 3, he hurt his elbow again while diving for a catch. After that injury, he only got five hits in his last 35 at-bats. He needed surgery in November.

Hernández has played 10 seasons in Dodger blue over the course of his 13-year career. And 2026 brings another one!