![\"Cleveland](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/BZ6VDJRQ7RAYXMHDQ6ZXT3FNNQ.JPG\"\/)
Only three American League players have been to the playoffs more times in the last 10 years than Jose Ramirez.Joshua Gunter, cleveland.comPerception does count<\/p>\nCLEVELAND, Ohio \u2014 Of the big four pro sports \u2014 football, hockey, basketball and baseball \u2014 only one has fans fixated on the payroll.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s baseball.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a long debate in Cleveland about the Guardians\u2019 lack of spending, payroll rankings, etc. It also happens in other smaller MLB cities.<\/p>\n
Fans here don\u2019t like to hear it, but Cleveland is the smallest market with teams in NBA, NFL and MLB. Overall, Cleveland is the 19th media market.<\/p>\n
But it doesn\u2019t matter in the other sports. That\u2019s because the NBA, NHL and NFL all have some form of a salary cap.<\/p>\n
The MLB Players Union will show stats about how smaller market teams win even though their sport doesn\u2019t have a salary cap. One of their examples is Cleveland.<\/p>\n
In the last 10 years, these teams have had the most wins:<\/p>\n
Dodgers: 944Houston: 890Yankees: 872Cleveland: 843Milwaukee: 836.<\/p>\n
In that span, only Milwaukee has not been to the World Series. The Dodgers and Houston have won the World Series twice. Cleveland and the Yankees went once to the World Series \u2014 and lost. <\/p>\n
In that same 10-year span since 2016, the only American League players to have been to the postseason more often than Jose Ramirez (7 times) are Aaron Judge (10), Alex Bregman (9) and Jose Altuve (8). <\/p>\n
Only three American League players have been to the playoffs more times in the last 10 years than Jose Ramirez.Joshua Gunter, cleveland.comPerception does count<\/p>\n
This season, the Final Four in the MLB playoffs consists of two teams in the top five in payroll: <\/a>the Dodgers and Toronto. Seattle is No. 16 and Milwaukee is No. 23. <\/p>\n The Guardians were No. 25 in payroll. They lost in the wild card series to Detroit, which ranked No. 17 in payroll. <\/p>\n In 2024, the Guardians were in the Final Four with the Yankees, Dodgers and Mets. They were the only small market team.<\/p>\n Spending more money is an obvious advantage. If nothing else, the Dodgers and Yankees are likely to buy their way into the playoffs nearly every year. But it doesn\u2019t ensure a World Series title, or even a World Series appearance.<\/p>\n The playoffs are treacherous territory for every team in the postseason, regardless of payroll. <\/p>\n In the last 10 years, the following teams have won the World Series: Dodgers, Houston, Texas, Washington, Boston and the Cubs. <\/p>\n The baseball union will use that to show there is some type of parity. One or two teams aren\u2019t dominating. <\/p>\n But the perception by MLB fans in smaller markets is \u201cWe have no chance because of payroll.\u201d<\/p>\n In football, hockey and basketball, the issue is how teams deal with the salary cap, luxury tax, etc. But none of the fans in those cities have to deal with teams spending three times as much as other franchises \u2014 something that happens in baseball.<\/p>\n Having a reasonable salary cap matters to how the fans view the sport. <\/p>\n Yes, the bigger NFL markets bring in more cash. But it doesn\u2019t stop Green Bay, Kansas City or \u2026 yes, even Cleveland \u2026 from having a legitimate chance to contend for the playoffs and a title. <\/p>\n A salary cap keeps some type of financial order \u2014 or at least, it appears that way to the fans and media.<\/p>\n Baseball\u2019s labor agreement ends after the 2026 season. Commissioner Rob Manfred is not afraid to push for dramatic changes. Consider how he added the pitch clock, the extra-inning ghost runners and other new aspects of the game.<\/p>\n He wants a type of salary cap. <\/p>\n It also should (and probably will) have a \u201csalary floor,\u201d meaning teams have to spend a certain amount each year on players. The NBA, NFL and NHL all have some type of salary floors.<\/p>\n Manfred will probably trigger a work stoppage after the 2026 season. The union has vowed to never accept a salary cap. <\/p>\n In the three sports with salary caps, fans have a sense of fairness. Their team can win if it does a good job finding, developing and coaching the players. <\/p>\n In baseball, too many fans feel hopeless at the start of the season because of the sport\u2019s flawed economic structure. <\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND, Ohio \u2014 Of the big four pro sports \u2014 football, hockey, basketball and baseball \u2014 only one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-224437","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Rob](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Y473ETBL6NGGDBIO7XUC7GNTYA.jpg\"\/)
Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred will push for some type of salary cap after the 2026 season. APWhy a salary cap matters <\/p>\n