Like the NHL one of the best days in MLB is the trade deadline. However, as MLB goes by every year and teams like the Yankees continue to field an all-star team worth over 200 million the sport begins to become a laughing stock.

The Phillies got Oswalt and his huge contract and the Yankees got Berkman this evening in 2 of the bigger deals of the deadline. As titled here the rich are certainly getting richer. The Yanks are the obvious # 1 in payroll and the Phills are 4th(before the trade), showing us that still the ones with the money are the ones who get the big names. (And save your Mets comments, I am a Metsfan and know they have a high payroll and know they still suck but I will deal with them later in a post)

     Let’s look at the bottom line here. I will say it, MLB needs a salary cap plain and simple. Yep, I said it, deal with it. Revenue sharing and lux taxes blah blah, you can throw whatever you want at the problem but more and more it’s obvious if you have the money you will put yourself in great position to win.  Lets look at the last 10 years or so of World Series winners.

(thanks to fanboy.net for the chart) 

One thing sticks out like a sore thumb. Every single team has a payroll in that year, in the top 10, with the vast majority (8) being in the top 5 of salaries in the league. The obvious exception being the Marlins who were in ’03 the perfect storm. Between trades and guys due huge raises they won in the exact year they need to and the next year their payroll went down from roughly 80 mil to under 40. 

So now this year the current playoff teams and their rank in salary are as follows (these rankings do not include recent deals)

Yankees (1)

White Sox (7)

Rangers (26)

Rays (19)

Braves (15)

Cardinals (11)

Padres (29)

Giants (9)

And the also in contention teams including the Phillies (4), Red Sox (2), Twins (13).  Recent additions will also raise some of these teams a bit higher (see Rangers/Angels). Also for arguments sake we can throw out the Padres right now, b/c we all know either they won’t be there in the end or they will no win the WS (look at history teaches us).  What this shows us is that the most likely winner this year will be a top 5 or top 10 spending team. How ridiculously spending are they? Well the Yankees at 200+ million have roughly the same salary as the bottom SIX teams combined. Let me repeat that the bottom SIX! teams combined.

So as history tells us by looking, that it will prolly be one of the top 5 salary teams who wins the WS no matter who gets there. Sure teams like the Rays or Braves might contend but it’s the smart money that will say the Yankees or Phils will likely be there when the last out is recorded. 

Unless you are one of the lemmings being lead around by the front running world as a Yankee fan you prob are completely fed up with the same teams competing and winning this crap year after year. It is just old. The sport needs a cap for the sake of itself. The diehard fans want to see every team have a chance to win every year. This is only achieved through a cap. What the NHL model shows us is that you can have a 20-30 mil span of what you can and have to spend and you will see different teams have a chance to win every year. Sure if you are the yankees you can still max out your payroll but you actually have to be creative in how you do so and trades as well.  Look at the NHL again you see how great the system works.  In the last 5 years since the cap was put in 5 different teams have won the Stanley Cup. Not only that only 4 of the possible 10 slots in the finals were repeats by teams who were there in the last 5 years (The Det vs Pitt finals 2 years in a row).  Every team has a legit shot to win every year.

MLB will NEVER institute a cap, mainly b/c the MLB players hold more power then any union in sports and they would never stand for it what so ever. Untill hell freezes over we will have to deal with every single year the Yankees being a 5-2 fav to wn the WS.

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