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A Major League Mess

Baseball is facing a generational challenge amid labor unrest, the salary cap debate, Rob Manfred’s search for a new rights deal, and an industry-wide reckoning with the death of the R.S.N.s. ESPN baseball insider Jeff Passan has a few thoughts on how it might all shake out…

Bryce Harper MLB
Green shoots have been overshadowed by tensions between MLB owners and the players union—best encapsulated by Bryce Harper’s recent confrontation with Rob Manfred, in which he told the commissioner, to his face, that “if you’re talking about a salary cap, you can get the fuck out.” Photo: Brandon Sloter/Getty Images
John Ourand
August 18, 2025

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Right now, professional baseball has a lot of momentum cruising into its September pennant drive. Attendance and TV viewership are both on the upswing, and teams are tracking to bring in record revenue. And yet, these green shoots have been overshadowed by tensions between MLB owners and the players union—best encapsulated by Bryce Harper’s recent confrontation with Rob Manfred, in which he told the commissioner, to his face, that “if you’re talking about a salary cap, you can get the fuck out.”