This year in Major League Baseball, almost all the attention has been paid to on-field trends, as a slew of historic rule changes impacted almost every aspect of the game. Now, MLB is turning some of its attention back to the economics of the sport.
It was only 14 months ago that a brutal labor battle between the league and the MLB Players Association ended with a five-year collective bargaining agreement. Once again, the players were able to secure a system without a hard salary cap, and MLB remains the only one of the four major professional North American sports without some form of hard payroll floor or ceiling.