Ex-Blue Jay Chris Bassitt voices opposition to a salary cap

Major League Baseball is getting back to business as players report to Spring Training and Grapefruit League games get underway. The biggest news seems to surround labor issues with the Collective Bargaining Agreement set to expire in December.

Former Blue Jays starting pitcher Chris Bassitt has always made his opinions and feelings heard. Now, with MLB labor strife looming, the native of Ohio is making it clear that the imposition of a salary cap in baseball is a non-starter. The recent news of MLBPA executive director Tony Clark's resignation only increases the odds of an ugly labor fight looming on the horizon.

Ex-Blue Jay Chris Bassitt voices opposition to a salary cap

"The salary cap doesn't fix anything. If you look at every major sport that has a salary cap, we have the best parity. The salary cap is not the issue. Having suppressed salaries across the league so owners can make more money is not the answer." Bassitt told reporters in Sarasota, Florida.

Bassitt, one of eight players on the executive subcommittee of the MLBPA, is responding to reports that MLB owners could be girding for the implementation of a salary cap. Could he be openly disagreeing with Baltimore Orioles owner David Rubinstein who voiced support for a salary cap a year ago?

Bassitt is certainly correct in his argument that baseball has the best parity of other major sports. For a sport that prides itself on playing well at the right time, MLB has produced 16 different World Series winners since 2000. The playoff structure has featured best-of-three or best-of-five series where even talented teams can suffer brutal losses.

Bassitt is also probably correct that owners benefit from a salary cap because fixed labor costs should lead to higher franchise valuations. The players could be more amenable to a cap if they knew how much money owners were making (or not making). Instead, owners mostly refuse to open their books, and players view the cap as a limit on their future earnings.

Bassitt is arguing that baseball shouldn't have a cap because they have the most parity. What makes his statement a little misleading is that baseball naturally lends itself to that parity. Any given team can beat any team on a nightly basis. The Los Angeles Angels can employ star talents in Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani and still not post a record a winning record.

It feels like the labor war is just starting. There are teams spending so little on payrolls, and teams that spend gobs of cash. There are chasms within the owner and player ranks, as some players may not feel it's economically viable to miss the entire 2027 regular season.

Bassitt was very durable during his tenure with the Blue Jays, starting at least 31 games during each of his three seasons in Canada. His best season was a 2023 campaign in which he posted a 3.60 ERA and 119 ERA+ in exactly 200 innings pitched. His 2025 season was solid before he was eventually moved to the bullpen during the postseason. He now joins a Baltimore Orioles squad that has designs on returning to the postseason this summer.

Alongside newcomer Shane Baz, the two pitchers will anchor an Orioles rotation that may finally be talented enough to pitch against the top lineups in the AL East. The Orioles will enjoy the contributions of Bassitt in a 2026 regular season that could be the last in a while. Every baseball fan is praying for labor peace in the future.