The CBA negotiations are going to get ugly, and that is inevitable. A couple of days ago, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred sent a proposal to the MLBPA regarding a strong salary cap. And the MLBPA didn’t even bother to check it. And now, the MLBPA President has made it clear as to what the association’s stance is.

“MLBPA interim executive director Bruce Meyer says that the players would actually be taking a $500 million pay cut if they accepted MLB’s salary cap proposal, and reiterated that they will never agree to a salary cap,” reported Bob Nightengale.

Since the 2026 offseason, everything in MLB has been tied to the CBA negotiations. And with the recent proposal, we are starting to see how the coming offseason might go. The MLB owners officially proposed a $245.3 million salary cap and a $171.2 million salary floor for the 2027 season.

The system also includes a 50/50 revenue split between the teams and the players. The league says this salary structure would reduce the gap between teams like the Dodgers with a $415 million payroll, versus the Marlins, with a $70 million payroll.

MLB believes this structure will bring a balance across all 30 teams.

Commissioner Rob Manfred has made his stance very clear in public interviews.

He said, “Our payroll gap from top to bottom is $446M. That’s not a fair fight.”

That single number has now become the center of the entire debate. He believes that teams like the Dodgers, with a payroll $476 million, and the Mets, with a payroll of $334 million, have caused the league to become imbalanced. Manfred argues that in a sport with such a long season, we can already see the winners.

So, the bottom line is that competitive balance is the biggest issue in MLB right now.

But the MLBPA has strongly pushed back against the proposal from the very beginning.

Bruce Meyer said, “It’s a cap on player salaries. Not a cap on the commissioner’s salary. Not a cap on the commissioner’s private jet.”

Meyer estimates that the players would lose over $500 million if the proposed salary structure is implemented. He also says that the cap would reduce the current player share. The union believes that the system directly lowers the earning power of the players across the league.

Meyer also questioned why the owners are so eager to support the cap. He says the salary caps increase the franchise value by controlling labor costs. He says that the owners are trying to increase their profits but limit what the players can earn, and according to Meyer, the system is designed to give teams more control over the players.

And the MLBPA questioned the whole argument that high payroll guarantees a championship. The 2023 World Series featured the Rangers and the Diamondbacks, and both of them were Wild Card teams. The Rangers had a payroll of $251 million, and the Diamondbacks had a payroll of $119 million.

But when you look at their payrolls in 2026, the numbers have dropped shockingly. The Rangers have a payroll of $185 million, and the D-Backs have a payroll of $189 million. While the Diamondbacks’ payroll went up, the Rangers went down, and that is the problem.

The New York Mets are a perfect example of this. In 2026, according to Spotrac, the Mets have a payroll of $334 million. But the Mets are 26-33 in the season and are 5.5 games off a Wild Card spot. And this season might already be over for the Queens. And even if you take the 2025 postseason, there were many such examples.

The Milwaukee Brewers made the 2025 postseason with a payroll of $121 million. Although they got swept by the Dodgers 4-0 in the NLCS, they had one of the lowest payrolls of the teams in the postseason. And even in the ALCS, the Mariners fell short just 1 game to the Blue Jays while holding a payroll of $165 million.

The union says these results prove that competition exists and Rob Manfred is simply trying to create chaos. But the one thing that both parties have to remember is the 1994 season and what the consequences might be if they don’t reach an agreement, because at this point, a lockout seems like the only outcome.

And amid the CBA negotiations, Rob Manfred is also trying to expand the league.

Rob Manfred’s core message for the expansion of the league

Since the Pat McAfee Show, everything around MLB expansion has been connected to league planning, market demand, and future structure, including comments from commissioner Rob Manfred about having 32 teams in the future.

And now even travel, scheduling, and player workload are being tied to the expansion talks. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred pointed to long-term planning and said, “We try to think in 10-year segments, what should it look like, how can we make it better,” linking expansion to the future of how the league might look.

MLB currently has 30 teams, with the league adding the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Rays during the last expansion in 1998.

Manfred also connected expansion to demand across North America, including Canada and Mexico, where cities continue pushing for MLB presence and recognition.

The league already plays 162 games across 186 days, which creates one of the longest schedules in sports and pushes players to travel across time zones.

Manfred said, “And the advantage of expansion is it opens up a whole lot of opportunities in terms of things like geographic realignment, which promotes rivalries, reduces travel.”

Players already deal with constant flights and travels with just a day’s gap in between, which makes travel reduction a key talking point in the expansion of the league.

The idea of geographic realignment has become central to expansion discussions, with MLB thinking about restructuring the league with regional rivalries taking more importance.

Manfred said expansion could “promote rivalries,” showing how scheduling changes could come alongside new franchises. Discussions have always mentioned cities like Nashville, Salt Lake City, Portland, Charlotte, and Sacramento.

Bob Nightengale also reported, “Nashville and Salt Lake City are the heavy favorites,” even as Portland and Sacramento continue preparing formal bids for a team.

But Montreal remains a special case in expansion conversations. Montreal already has MLB experience with the Expos playing in the MLB from 1969 to 2004, before the relocation to Washington.

With the expansion on the cards and fans in Montreal still wanting baseball back, this could be a special time for both Canada and MLB. Fans remember how dominant the Expos were before all the mess. And we have seen how the Diamondbacks became competitive as soon as they came to the league. So, the fans in Montreal are now going to be fighting to get their team back.

But the one thing that the MLB will have to keep in mind id how they are going to handle the addition of the 2 teams, especially with the CBA negotiations still happening.