PEORIA, Ariz. — The 2026 Major League Baseball season will be played under the dark cloud of the real possibility that the 2027 season might not be played.

Team owners and MLB commissioner Rob Manfred have indicated their preparedness to lock out the players when the current collective bargaining agreement expires on Dec. 1.

The owners’ fervent desire for a salary cap and the players being resolute in their opposition to a cap is often cited as the main point of contention between the sides. And while that may be the hill on which negotiations devolve, the baseline contention by the MLB Players Association is that the problem is not every owner is trying to win.

“For us, that’s a huge issue,” Bruce Meyer, the MLBPA’s interim executive director, said Monday. “Our general priorities are kind of well known and not a secret. We want to see younger guys get paid earlier. We want to see guys at every level be able to (realize) their value. But in terms of competition, we want to see every team competing to win as hard as the players compete to win every day.”

Meyer, the union’s chief negotiator, was speaking after spending nearly two hours in the Padres clubhouse updating players and answering their questions.

It was just more than a week ago that Padres third baseman Manny Machado provided fodder for the national media and talk shows when he was asked what he thought about the Dodgers’ $357 million payroll, which is $47 million higher than the next-closest team and more than three times higher than each of the teams ranked in the bottom 10 in payroll.

“I think every team should be doing it,” Machado said of the Dodgers’ spending. “I think every team has the ability to do it.”

That is not actually the union’s expectation.

“Obviously, (teams) don’t all have exactly the same resources,” Meyer said. “But every team has the ability to compete. Everyone has the ability to win. The Milwaukee Brewers (play in) the smallest market in baseball. They had the best record in baseball last year. The Dodgers have won back-to-back World Series, and it’s the first time any team has done that in 25 years. So we don’t have a system where every team has exactly the same resources. But does every team have the ability to win? The answer is yes.”

The Padres, whose market size is by all measures in the bottom six in MLB and whose television deal pays them some $305 million less annually than the Dodgers’ regional network deal, have the league’s eighth-highest payroll ($229 million). They are one of five teams to have won at least 90 games both of the past two seasons.

“The Padres are a great example of a small market team that went out and expanded the resources to do everything they could to put a great team on the field for the fans and has reaped the rewards of that,” Meyer said. “Their attendance and otherwise have reflected those efforts. The Padres are a team that we look to as a team that basically does it right.”

Stammen relates

Left-hander Marco Gonzales is scheduled to start for the Padres in Wednesday’s Cactus League game against the Cubs.

He will do so with a big fan watching from a chair in front of the dugout.

“I’m rooting for all of our guys,” Padres manager Craig Stammen clarified.

However, he also acknowledged the bond he feels with Gonzales based on his own experience making the Padres after coming to camp in 2017 on a minor-league deal.

Stammen had pitched seven seasons in the major leagues with the Washington Nationals when he had flexor tendon surgery in April 2015. He sat out that year and spent the next season in the minor leagues before signing with the Padres.

Gonzales, who is 34 years old and has made 162 starts over 10 big-league seasons, did not pitch last season following his August 2024 flexor tendon repair.

“We’ve shared those similarities of how old he is, where he’s at in his career … and now a second chance with a healthy arm,” Stammen said. “I always think, like, those connections that I had from (being) a player, being able to share that and communicate those with the players is relatable. It’s a strength that I have, so I’ve got to use it.”

Ornelas returns

Left fielder Tirso Ornelas cleared waivers and was back at the Peoria Sports Complex six days after being designated for assignment.

He was outrighted to Triple-A but remains in major league camp.

Ornelas, a Tijuana native, was DFA’d to make room on the 40-man roster for pitcher Griffin Canning.

The 25-year-old Ornelas was 1-for-14 in his only big-league call-up last April. He has an .836 OPS over the past three seasons in Triple-A.