Does Baseball Need a Salary Cap like Hockey?

[ronno]

Mike Trout signs record $430M contract, $36M/year for 10 years. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/19/sports/mike-trout-contract-angels.html

Trout's annual salary is almost triple most NHL salary limits. He's undoubtedly earned it: Trout's stats - at his age - rival some all-time baseball greats. The Angels are right to lock him down now.

Could we ever see those numbers in hockey? I don't think Jaromir Jagr's best years came close to $36M (endorsements excluded).

[no name]

Baseball needs more than a luxury tax, everyone wants to blame the owners, and to a degree you can but until baseball tries to make a even playing field the bottom 3rd of the league will have to wait for the perfect storm to win a championship.

[DelPen]

Baseball needs more than a luxury tax, everyone wants to blame the owners, and to a degree you can but until baseball tries to make a even playing field the bottom 3rd of the league will have to wait for the perfect storm to win a championship.

But how much money does a team like the Pirates make? Is there any incentive to get better and make the playoffs let alone win a championship? It just seems like owners who are content with their business models that make money don’t actually care about performance. Pirates must have a great local TV deal and still a decent season ticket base to not give a crap at all in running a baseball team that can actually play baseball on a consistent basis.