2027 Lockout: As Twins Fans, What Do We Actually Want From the Next CBA?

[farmerguychris]

With more and more proposals starting to come out from MLB and the Players Association, I've been wondering what other Twins fans think about the possibility of a lockout — and potentially losing some of the 2027 season.

I'm especially interested in this from the perspective of fans of a small-to-mid-market team like Minnesota.

MLB is proposing some pretty major changes, including a salary cap and floor. Their current proposal would put the 2027 cap at about $245 million and the floor at about $171 million. They've also floated changes to the offseason calendar, including much shorter windows for free-agent signings.

The Players Association, meanwhile, has made it pretty clear that a salary cap is something they strongly oppose.

Obviously, we're a long way from knowing where any of this ends up. But if we're heading toward another owners-vs.-players labor battle, what should we as Twins fans actually be rooting for?

Personally, the thing I want most is parity.

I think the NFL gets this part mostly right. I like the idea that going into a season, fans of just about every team can reasonably believe that if their organization makes good decisions, drafts well, develops players and manages its roster properly, it has a legitimate opportunity to win.

I'd like MLB to get closer to that.

Here's one statistic that really puts the current situation into perspective for me:

The Cleveland Guardians entered this season with a payroll of roughly $70 million.

Shohei Ohtani's contract with the Dodgers has a nominal value of $70 million per season. (Obviously that's complicated by the massive amount of deferred money in his contract, so it isn't literally $70 million being paid to him this year.)

Still, think about the basic comparison: one superstar's contract averages approximately what an entire roster costs.

I don't think either extreme is particularly healthy for the long term future of baseball.

I'd like to see a system where the Dodgers, Yankees, Mets, etc. can't simply use enormously deeper pockets than everyone else — but I'd ALSO like to see a system where low-payroll owners can't pocket revenue-sharing money while putting a $60-$80 million roster on the field.

That's why, at least in theory, I find a cap AND a meaningful floor interesting. If you're going to limit what the biggest spenders can spend, you should also force the lowest spenders to invest substantially more in their teams.

But I also realize it isn't that simple.

A huge part of this comes back to revenue. MLB teams don't begin on equal financial footing. Local television revenue has historically varied enormously from market to market, and the collapse/change of the regional sports network model has hit some clubs much harder than others. So if MLB wants NFL-style payroll parity, doesn't it eventually need something closer to NFL-style revenue sharing too?

Ultimately, my ideal outcome would be pretty simple:

Every fan should be able to enter Opening Day believing their team has a legitimate path to a championship — and that championship shouldn't be something another team can simply buy because its revenue and ownership pockets dwarf everyone else's.

Maybe that's unrealistic in baseball. Maybe a salary cap creates more problems than it solves. Maybe the MLBPA is right to fight it. That's part of why I'm starting this thread.

I'm also finding it hard to get emotionally invested in choosing between millionaire players and billionaire owners when the people who ultimately lose during a work stoppage are the fans — along with all of the ordinary people whose livelihoods depend on baseball being played.

So I'm curious where Twins Daily Users falls on this:

1. Would a salary cap AND floor ultimately be good for the Twins?

2. How should MLB significantly increase revenue sharing between large- and small-market teams as part of any cap/floor system?

3. Do you think MLB should be trying to copy the NFL model when it comes to competitive balance, or is baseball fundamentally too different?

4. And maybe most importantly — do you think we're actually going to lose games in 2027?

I'm genuinely interested in hearing both sides, because I suspect this is going to become one of the biggest baseball stories of the next several months.

Many of the venues I participate about Twins baseball say it is too early to do any predictions - fair enough, but I would like to know if I'm the only person feeling the way I do.

Thoughts anyone?