The Cleveland Browns have enough troubles of their own heading into Week 7 with a 1-5 record, TE David Njoku out for the game and five other players questionable. The Browns offense has been unable to get anything going and many believe that HC Kevin Stefanski could be let go as soon as this weekend, if Cleveland loses at home to the 1-5 Miami Dolphins.
That doesn’t mean Browns players are only thinking about football 24/7. Like most people, players have hobbies, families and things that provide enjoyment
for their downtime. With MLB’s playoffs speeding to the World Series, Cleveland DT Shelby Harris shared his opinion about the competitive balance of the game:
Harris’ Twitter profile notes that he is “Milwaukee born and raised,” which explains his frustrations as the Milwaukee Brewers were just swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers. As a pitcher and hitter, Shohei Ohtani had a game for the ages, literally:
To Harris’ point, Ohtani was acquired by the Dodgers as a free agent. As were pitchers Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who won Games 1 and 2. Tyler Glasnow was acquired in a trade and then given a big five-year extension.
Los Angeles has two of the top five paid players in baseball, three of the top 11 and four of the top 30, three of which are Ohtani, Yamamoto and Snell. Glasnow’s contract is the 46th largest in all of baseball.
Unlike the NFL and NBA, Major League Baseball does not have a salary cap, which allows teams to spend whatever the owners are willing to. The Dodgers, winners of two of the last five World Series and favorites this year, have a $350 million payroll. The Brewers, Harris’ team, rank 22nd in the league with a payroll of $121 million.
For reference, the Cleveland Guardians are 25th in MLB payroll at just over $100 million.
Do you agree with Harris’ take? What do you think would have to happen for the baseball union to ever allow a salary cap in MLB?