#salary-cap

#salary-cap

One year from today -- on Dec. 1, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. ET, to be exact -- the league's current labor agreement expires. As the owners and players look to agree on a new collective bargaining agreement, there are major hurdles to clear and some key areas of disagreement. Will we see a work stoppage in 2027? Is a salary cap coming? ESPN MLB experts Jeff Passan, Jesse Rogers and Alden Gonzalez field some of the biggest questions looming over the sport.

If a salary cap ends up being a sticking point for team owners, MLB could be facing a possible work stoppage. MLBPA executive director Tony Clark previously said the union would not be receptive to any salary cap proposals in the next round of CBA talks. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said it is his top priority to ensure the league doesn't lose any games in 2027 if a lockout occurs, via ESPN's Jorge Castillo:

"There should be a limit on player salaries," Hainer said in a November interview with Abendzeitung, as captured by @iMiaSanMia.

As the baseball industry braces for the potential of another lockout after the 2026 season, Major League Baseball and the Players Association recently held a meeting to discuss the sport's labor issues, according to people briefed on the discussion but not authorized to speak publicly. Lead negotiators Dan Halem for MLB and Bruce Meyer for the MLBPA both participated, the source told The Athletic.

Teams can lose draft picks and pay a ton in luxury tax, but it doesn't seem to be a deterrent. So for overspending, I would allow a generous soft cap, as MLB has now. Then for every 20 million dollar increment of spending above the cap, you start the season with a loss. So sure, Dodgers, blow out the soft cap if you don't mind starting 0-4.

Dick Monfort is one of the leading figures on the owner's side in labor negotiations with the MLB Players Association. The 71-year-old pointed out that he'll have more work to do on that end with the collective bargaining agreement expiring a little over a year from now. "I have a lot more responsibility with the league over the next year, so I have to allocate time there. Plus, I'm getting older," he told reporters (including Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post).

The Leafs had been trying to find a taker for Kampf, who had fallen out of favour in Craig Berube's system after being a key contributor for years under Sheldon Keefe, but to no avail. The key issue at hand was the contract that he signed back in 2023, which carried an AAV of $2.4 million, had two seasons remaining, and included signing bonuses in the multi-million range.

It's more a symbolic discussion than anything else. Drellich and Rosenthal write that substantive bargaining is unlikely to begin until next spring. This served as an opportunity for each side to lay out diverging views of the game's economics. It is widely expected that the sides will not be able to line up on a new deal before the expiration of the current CBA on December 1, 2026. If that's the case, MLB would immediately implement a lockout to freeze the 2026-27 offseason.

Tippett played his junior hockey in Mississauga, and has turned himself into a consistent 20-goal scorer, who isn't afraid to use his body to make an impact on the game. He has landed 115, 148, and 125 hits the past three seasons, and could give the Maple Leafs a nice mix of speed, skill, and determination among their top six. So far this season, the former 2017 first-round pick has scored five goals in 13 games, and is on pace for his first 30-goal season.

New York Jets first-year general manager Darren Mougey did not want to call what he just did a tear-down. But what else could it be? At Tuesday's NFL trade deadline, he jettisoned a 25-year-old, two-time Pro Bowl cornerback who was just four months into a four-year, $120.4 million contract extension and one of the best defensive tackles in the entire league.

And the Dolphins can understand the additional trouble they're in by looking at their salary-cap hell. But the full view of their trouble didn't come in focus until Tuesday's trade deadline blindsided everyone with this conclusion: You'd rather be the stinkin' New York Jets right now than the Dolphins. Just typing that previous sentence makes me think it's suddenly very hot in here. Is this what a panic attack feels like?

M.L.B.'s owners look likely to lock out the players when the collective bargaining agreement expires in December 2026 in an effort to bring a cap to the sport. As the world watches, baseball is in jeopardy. Four more wins and really ruin baseball. The Dodgers top four pitchers all basically came from the market, and not at a small price over $1 billion. Then there's the hitting, buoyed by a trio of M.V.P.s, all L.A. transplants.

I can't really hate either team. Yeah, the Dodgers spend lots of money. But Baseball's system doesn't really punish you for it and the players are pretty certain that they don't want a salary cap. If the Braves had the resources, I'd want my team to use them to put together a great team. I vibe pretty well with Dodger fans. Bill Plaschke is the only annoyance there.

The problem was, under Shanahan, the Leafs never made it past the second round of the playoffs. Not great for someone whose tenure as team president and alternate governor kicked off in 2014. Friedman's not wrong, but the on-ice performance in the playoffs speaks for itself, and Shanahan didn't do enough to catapult the Leafs into deep playoff runs. Maple Leafs should have been better off during Brendan Shanahan's tenure While Shanahan was in charge, the Maple Leafs also only took two division titles, and one was during the truncated 2020-21 season.

The Dodgers had just been presented with the National League Championship trophy. Roberts, the Dodgers' manager, had something to say to a sellout crowd at Dodger Stadium, and to an audience watching on national television. "They said the Dodgers are ruining baseball," Roberts hollered. "Let's get four more wins and really ruin baseball." The Dodgers had just vanquished the Milwaukee Brewers, a team that did everything right, with four starting pitchers whose contracts total $1.35 billion.

Golden State had the first-round draft capital -- the Warriors can trade up to the maximum four first-round picks and also swap in the next seven years -- to make a significant trade during the season. But, unlike the sizable contracts available in the Jimmy Butler trade last February ( Andrew Wiggins, Dennis Schroder, Kyle Anderson), that did not exist this season. Curry, Butler and Draymond Green combine to earn

In a move to secure the Toronto Maple Leafs' long-term stability in net, general manager Brad Treliving signed goaltender Anthony Stolarz to a four-year contract before the start of the regular season, the netminder's self-imposed deadline to get something done. The second-year Leaf had a breakout season during his first year in Toronto, setting personal-bests in games played, wins, and shutouts. He also led the NHL in save percentage.

The Atlanta Hawks are trading guard Kobe Bufkin to the Brooklyn Nets for cash considerations, sources told ESPN's Shams Charania on Monday. Bufkin, Atlanta's No. 15 pick in the 2023 NBA draft, is due $5.4 million this season and has a $6.9 million team option for 2026-27. The move opens roster flexibility for the Hawks -- and gives them a $4.5 million trade exception -- while providing the 21-year-old guard a fresh opportunity in Brooklyn.

Hey, if you can do it, you can do it! If you get away with it, you get away with it. But I tell you this - where there's smoke, there's fire. If the NBA thinks that you are wrong about doing stuff like that. They're gonna get you, they're gonna get you. I say this - I'm not for sure. I'm not sure.