Back in March, as the first pitches were being thrown and as the first hot dogs were just being unwrapped, the 2026 Major League Baseball season started under the assumption that it would be the final one before contentious labor negotiations in the winter.“A lockout is all but guaranteed at the end of the agreement,” Bruce Meyer, the acting executive director of the MLB Players Association, said in February.“The league has pretty much said that.”We’re now in October, and this year’s World Series matchup between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Milwaukee Brewers is equally intriguing for what it means on the field (the series will literally decide a champion, after all) as for what it means off the field, as terms such as “market size,” “payroll” and “revenue sharing” have become as big a part of baseball as hits, home runs and RBIs.
Here’s what to think about as you watch the Fall Classic unfold.Milwaukee Brewers players work out Thursday in Milwaukee ahead of Game 1 of the World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday.Kayla Wolf / APThese are low-spending teamsFor all the concerns about payroll disparity in MLB headed into the season, this World Series features two of the lowest-spending teams in the sport.The Brewers rank 19th in payroll this season, according to FanGraphs.The Rays rank 28th.
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