There Was Hockey Tonight?

If hockey was played at any level tonight, I wasn't watching. A bad case of Blue Jays Fever has set in at HBIC Headquarters, and their battle against the Los Angeles Dodgers tonight was the only game I was watching. Call me out for my lack of hockey passion on this one, but Canada's only Major League Baseball team being in the World Series on Canadian soil playing against a team that has been portrayed as "invincible" in the postseason is must-watch television for me. Combine that with the fact that the Jays rocked the Dodgers with a nine-run, twelve-batter inning led by Addison Barger's pinch-hit grand slam above, and it's not hard to understand why a lot of Canadians were checking phones or ignoring hockey altogether on this Friday night. I was one of them.

Normally, I couldn't care less about the World Series as stats have shown that, from 2003-23, "[t]he average World Series winner throughout this time period spent 29% more than average on payroll and earned 22% more than average in revenue." It's hard to outspend teams like the Yankees, Dodgers, and Red Sox, though, so most MLB teams start behind the eight ball every season. As that Reddit post shows, only the 2003 Florida Marlins were the biggest financial underdogs to win the World Series from the time period evaluated. And that World Series win happened more than two decades ago.

Repeat winners in MLB don't happen often for a variety of reasons, but building a winner happens less now than constructing a winner.

As you can see, the only team who didn't make the playoffs from the top-five teams in salaries this season were the New York Mets, and they missed a playoff spot after losing Game 162. In short, they were one game away from making the MLB playoffs along with the other four teams, including the Blue Jays, this season. The teams that construct their rosters by spending big dollars seem to always have a shot at the postseason as the trends prove year after year.

As a guy who lives in what would be considered a miniscule market for Major League Baseball, this is one of those moments where I appreciate that the NHL imposes a hard salary cap on all teams, especially those who play in massive markets like New York, Toronto, and Los Angeles. I know agents dislike it and players would prefer it to be gone to maximize their earning potentials, but it has allowed teams like the Winnipeg Jets to build a competitive team without worrying about being outspent. Parity makes the game better.

Some of you might be saying, "Parity is artifical and doesn't make the game better, Teebz," and I see your point. However, human failings in recognizing talent, awarding bad contracts to non-impact players, and trading players who have yet to hit their full potential aren't problems with the cap system that the NHL has. That existed before there was a cap, and it will continue as long as the NHL operates.

I being up the salary cap, though, because both of these teams have strong hockey ties as the Los Angeles Dodgers are owned by Mark Walter who also owns and operates the PWHL where there is a hard salary cap for teams. The Toronto Blue Jays, of course, are owned by Rogers Communications who also own the largest stake in the Toronto Maple Leafs who operate under a hard salary cap. Both ownership groups are fully aware of how a cap system works in sports.

As Jeff Passan wrote on September 18, 2025 on ESPN, "MLB wants a salary cap, and between now and Dec. 1, 2026, when the current collective bargaining agreement expires, those two words - which owners regard as a necessity and the MLBPA as a profanity - could presage the fate of the 2027 season."

Something about Passan's words have a familiar feel to them.

Passan continued, writing, "MLB's argument for a cap starts with shrinking the economic disparity to foster fairness regardless of market size and revenue. Payroll correlates more strongly with winning in baseball than in any of the capped sports, and this reality alarms league officials."

Look, the NHL can be the example where no one is asking for fairness on the ice, but they are asking for some sensibility when it comes to contracts and free agent talent. We've seen star players in the NHL leave money on the table for a chance to win a championship while other players have cashed out maximum contracts when offered. What's key in all of this is that teams in smaller markets have a shot at retaining talent and adding new talent alongside those teams who play under unlimited revenue streams thanks to their markets.

Passan also nails the fan experience in the salary cap era, stating, "fans don't follow their teams for profit-and-loss statements, and the belief among those in favor of a cap is that lessening financial disparity will improve competitive balance. Certain data points support this idea. Teams with top-10 payrolls reach and win the World Series significantly more often than lesser spenders. Smaller markets - which, in almost every case, likewise carry smaller payrolls - are practically nonexistent at the end of October."

In terms of the MLBPA's stance, Passan also points out that the best team in baseball this season, the Milwaukee Brewers, carried "the 21st-highest payroll in the game". He adds the "Tampa Bay Rays made the World Series in 2020 with the 28th-ranked payroll, and the Cleveland Guardians reached the American League Championship Series last year with the 23rd" and that 16 MLB teams have won the World Series in the last 25 years - more than the "NHL (14), NFL (13) and NBA (12)". Essentially, The MLBPA will tell you that parity exists.

So who do we believe? The NHL has battled through the growing pains of the salary cap to find itself in a fairly good place, but agents and players will tell you that their salaries are still being artificially capped. The owners, meanwhile, will tell you that the league is stronger with less owners claiming bankruptcy and falling into financial danger thanks to the system being used. Fans will tell you that the hockey is great and that games are competitive.

So who should fans believe as we near a potential CBA war? Well, it seems the cap benefits the owners the most when it comes to asset growth. Passan spoke to "one longtime labor lawyer" who told him, "That if the costs are fixed, the franchise values will go up."

Before we light torches and grab pitchforks, though, all of this is simply academic right now. The CBA will expire in 2026, and that's when the positioning will begin on both sides. It seems inevitable, but it sounds like there is a labour war coming in baseball just as it did in hockey, and we might see an entire season lost on the diamonds before play resumes just as it did in hockey. That won't help anyone in or around baseball, but hockey has been more stable as the salary cap era's wrinkles have been smoothed.

With the Blue Jays winning 11-4 tonight, they're now three ways from a third World Series championship, but it's still a long road to walk. The Dodgers won't roll over after one loss just as the Jays didn't after losing the first two games in the ALCS to Seattle. The good news is that there will be a World Series trophy awarded to one of these two teams this season unlike the last time a dominant Canadian team went into the MLB playoffs in 1994 when labour unrest under forced the World Series to be cancelled. RIP Montreal Expos.

For the next week, I'm going to enjoy this run by the Blue Jays as much as possible. Yes, there will be a war over a baseball salary cap on the horizon, but the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers should provide a solid finish to the 2025 baseball season. If baseball is going to nuke a future season to try and bring some sort of parity among all teams in all markets, both MLB and the MLBPA should be talking to their hockey counterparts about what's good, what's bad, and what still needs to be fixed in hockey's labour situation.

Afer all, it's not perfect, but it works.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!