Major League Baseball will find itself at a significant crossroads following this season, and baseball’s top insider seems to think that United States President Donald Trump could get involved to settle it.
MLB’s current collective bargaining agreement is set to come to an end in December, which means that MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) will need to come to a new deal before the start of 2027 to avoid a lockout.
While there are certainly quite a few ways this all could play out, MLB insider Jeff Passan thinks there’s a real possibility that Trump could get involved in the negotiations.
‘It’s a possibility’
During a recent appearance on The Max Mannis Podcast, Passan was asked about the looming negotiations between MLB and the MLBPA and what it would mean for those negotiations if a smaller market team were to win the World Series.
While Passan did not totally rule out the impact that this would have, he seems to think that the government would have more of an impact than anything that happens on the field.
“I think if there’s anything that would have a demonstrable effect, it would be Washington, D.C.,” Passan said on the podcast. “Does, or how much, does President Trump get involved? Are there hearings on Capitol Hill about this? Is there going to be any kind of litigation that could wind its way up to the Supreme Court as it did in 1995?”
“To me, this is much more of a political-class thing having an effect than I think the working class will,” he continued.
When Mannis pressed Passan about whether or not he thought government intervention was a possibility, Passan brought up Trump’s previous comments on the issue and how he likes to get involved with sports.
“It’s a possibility just because you’ve got a president who has publicly stated that he thinks baseball should have a salary cap who likes involving himself in sports,” Passan said.
Trump supports a salary cap
As Passan indicated, Trump has publicly stated that he supports a salary cap in the sport as he suggested that they should have instituted one “a long time ago.”
“If you don’t have a salary cap, you don’t have a sport. Because they can’t help themselves. You know, in sports they can’t help themselves,” Trump said back in June. “They should have done it a long time ago.”
While Trump was certainly not shy about taking a stand on the issue, it remains to be seen whether or not he will actively involve himself in the negotiations over the next few months.
However, it sounds like Passan certainly wouldn’t rule it out.
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