Is MLB Producing Propaganda? | Hour 2

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Dan Le Batard Show

Episode: Is MLB Producing Propaganda? | Hour 2
Date: July 16, 2026
Location: Live from the Elser Hotel, Downtown Miami
Participants: Dan Le Batard (Host), Mike, Zach, Tony, Jeremy

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Overview

This hour of The Dan Le Batard Show unpacks Major League Baseball’s recent push for a salary cap, focusing on new MLB “propaganda” commercials that position owners as advocates for competitive balance. The crew debates the ethics of journalistic pursuits, viral media, the real meaning of fair play in sports economics, and the age-old battle of labor (players) versus capital (owners). The conversation is both wide-ranging and sharply focused on baseball’s labor future—punctuated by classic show banter and pop culture detours.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Questioning Journalistic Integrity for Virality

[01:38–05:15]

• The crew reflects on their viral interview with a notorious Internet troll who sparked an NBA controversy involving Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo.
  • Mike expresses discomfort at the segment:

    “Am I right to view that as the lowest point of my journalistic career?” — Mike [02:51]

  • Jeremy and Dan defend the value of transparency, chasing reactions, and public interest, even in uncomfortable stories:

    “We did really good work. We… held him accountable for being such a hating ass hater. And I'm proud of the work that we did.” — Dan Le Batard [05:15]

• The larger issue: Is it “good work” to platform a troll for content? The team splits on whether viral impact validates journalistic choices or if it erodes professional standards.

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2. Pop Culture Tangent: Movie Franchises & Rocky’s Underdog Story

[06:03–11:10]

• Lighthearted debate about superhero movies (“Kraven the Hunter"), “He-Man,” and a new biopic about the making of “Rocky.”
• Dan on Stallone’s enduring legacy:

  “It’s one of the great sports stories of all time and one of the great film stories of all time.” — Dan Le Batard [10:47]

• They discuss the improbability of “Rocky’s” success—mirroring the episode’s baseball theme of underdogs and systemic inequality.

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3. MLB’s Salary Cap “Propaganda” — The Heart of the Episode

[14:37–42:33]

A. MLB’s Media Savvy and Historical Context

[14:37–16:46]

• Mike lauds MLB’s long-standing edge in sports media and digital strategy, but laments Commissioner Manfred’s failed interviews and his openness to tanking as a business strategy.

B. The New Salary Cap Ad—Owner Messaging in Disguise

[17:34–27:32]

• The crew dissects a controversial MLB commercial advocating for a salary cap (with a salary floor "consolation").
  • Mike criticizes the commercial’s attempt to “get ahead” of fan backlash before a likely work stoppage:

    “Let’s do propaganda using fan voices and let’s point to the Dodgers. Oh, the Dodgers are ruining it, aren’t they?” — Mike [18:07]

  • Dan recognizes the shrewdness of the strategy (even if it’s “icky”):

    “It’s smart to have the fans literally give voice to what is a popular movement.” — Dan Le Batard [18:34]

  • Tony — acerbic as always:

    “It's like socialist propaganda.” — Tony [18:04]

• There’s consensus: Owners are shifting blame, leveraging public sentiment, and “using the little guy to boost the argument for the billionaires.” — Dan Le Batard [20:02]

C. Public Perception and Player Villainization

[28:09–32:44]

• Mike spells out the dilemma:

  “There is no way for players to win this argument from any angle… It’s impossible to hit 105 mile an hour fastball when you’re a human being. Outside of that, they fix just about everything.” — Mike [28:55]

• General point: Fans usually side with owners/teams, not (millionaire) players, in labor disputes—even though fans are "employees" themselves.

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4. Why Do Fans Side with Owners and Teams?

[32:00–36:13]

• Zach offers a fan’s logic:

  “To me, it's do you take the side of players or do you take the side of the teams? And I am always going to be on the side of the team.” — Zach [32:44]

• Mike explains the narrative game: owners are insulated from blame, making it easy to cast players as greedy disruptors.

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5. Do Salary Caps Guarantee Equality, or Just Enrich Owners?

[36:13–41:50]

• Dan lays out the “American expectation” of capped leagues versus baseball's free-market tradition:

  “They’ve had a blessed deal in being uncapped in America. We're used to our sports being capped here. What would happen in the NFL if there was no salary cap? It would suck.” — Dan Le Batard [36:39]

• Mike points out baseball’s playoff randomness—lower payroll teams (like the Marlins) can win, though money buys “lottery tickets” to the postseason, not guaranteed success.

Notable Quote:

“Spending money for the most part guarantees you a lottery ticket into the playoffs.” — Dan Le Batard [37:30]

• Discussion of proposed MLBPA reforms (competitive integrity tax = soft salary floor), differences with owner proposals, and a focus on “rogue” owners like the Mets’ Steve Cohen as the catalyst for this battle.

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Segment | Topic | Timestamp | |---|---|---| | Journalistic soul-searching & viral interview debate | [01:38–05:15] | | Movie/Pop Culture Side Conversation | [06:03–11:10] | | MLB’s salary cap ads & media strategy | [14:37–16:46] | | Dissection of MLB’s “propaganda” ads | [17:34–27:32] | | Players vs Owners & fan perceptions | [28:09–32:44] | | Why fans side with owners/teams over players | [32:00–36:13] | | The (in)effectiveness of salary caps & playoff randomness | [36:13–41:50] |

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Memorable Quotes

• “Am I right to view that as the lowest point of my journalistic career?” — Mike [02:51]
• “We did really good work. We… held him accountable for being such a hating ass hater. And I'm proud of the work that we did.” — Dan Le Batard [05:15]
• “Let’s do propaganda using fan voices and let’s point to the Dodgers. Oh, the Dodgers are ruining it, aren’t they?” — Mike [18:07]
• “It’s smart to have the fans literally give voice to what is a popular movement.” — Dan Le Batard [18:34]
• “It's like socialist propaganda.” — Tony [18:04]
• “There is no way for players to win this argument from any angle…” — Mike [28:55]
• “To me, it's do you take the side of players or do you take the side of the teams? And I am always going to be on the side of the team.” — Zach [32:44]
• “Spending money for the most part guarantees you a lottery ticket into the playoffs.” — Dan Le Batard [37:30]
• “It's the anti-American way... Capitalism. You're advocating on behalf of something that's not free market.” — Mike [42:17]

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Tone and Takeaways

True to the show’s irreverent, combative, and self-aware style, the crew uses MLB’s salary cap debate to puncture sports media narratives, expose the manipulation at work in labor disputes, and challenge listeners to rethink their automatic allegiances. While there’s grudging respect for the owners’ PR acumen, there’s just as much skepticism for the purported fairness they claim to serve.

Bottom line: The upcoming MLB labor battle is as much about messaging wars and shaping perceptions as it is about contracts and competitive balance. And in those fights, as Le Batard & crew illustrate, it’s rarely clear-cut who’s really fighting for the “little guy.”

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For more context and the full show’s dynamic rhythm, listen to the episode or join the conversation online with the #LeBatardShow community.

Transcript

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[Dan Le Batard]

You are listening to the Dan Levatar show in partnership with the DraftKings sports app now live in all 50 states.

[Mike]

I don't want to be overly self serious and I don't want to lament too much during Happy Time what we're doing around here, but yesterday after the show while everyone was having a lunch they seemed to be enjoying very vigorously,

[Zach]

it was good at pollo.

[Mike]

Well you started to have pollo and everyone seemed to be enjoying their lunch. But when we as a media company interrupted our lunch to do what we did yesterday, I watching everyone, an army of soldiers scurried to attention having their lunch interrupted. I thought it was the lowest point of my journalistic career. When I saw on a camera that we were rushing in, a guy was wearing a mask of some sort and then very soon into talking to him he said yeah, this whole thing started cause I said to Tyler Herro, retire ho. And when that happened like I took inventory of my life and the decisions we've made over the last 20 years around here. I'm like and there it is. They're the lowest point of my journalism career. You guys still smell like puerco asado. I smelled onions all over the Place. There were half eaten.

[Tony]

Lechon was good.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Mike]

There were half eaten plates of food outside every. There was grease on some of the faces. And then I'm interviewing someone whose face I could not see because he did not want to be seen after taking the private thing that Tyler Herro did and showed it for everyone to be seen, and then getting him punched by Bam. Adebayo. And I'm rushing into place as the founder of a Pulitzer Prize winning company. Am I right to view that as the lowest point of my journalistic career?

[Jeremy]

Nope. It was great journalism. We got someone no one else could get to be on camera, and it's going mega viral.

[Mike]

Yeah, but the goal to me isn't to go mega viral. It's to do good.

[Jeremy]

Maybe you should run your company differently.

[Mike]

Well, it's to do good work.

[Jeremy]

Yeah, but what does Pablo do really?

[Mike]

Well, he wins. Wins Pulitzer.

[Jeremy]

Yeah, but did he get anyone as good as this?

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Because.

[Mike]

Yeah. Yes. Yeah, yeah. Better than that.

[Jeremy]

I don't know about better numbers if

[Tony]

you want me to be real.

[Jeremy]

Yeah. And we got this guy. Did papa get this guy?

[Mike]

So wait a minute. So now I will delight that though it was the lowest moment of my journalistic career, I. What are you shaking your head about?

[Zach]

The whole thing made me feel gross. I felt gross after talking to him yesterday.

[Jeremy]

And if you want to feel gross, you can watch it exclusively on the Lebatard.

[Mike]

Jeremy, your standard is not the standard round here. So let's lower your standard here when it comes to you saying we're doing the right thing by being viable viral instead of good, because. So I go outside. Lowest moment of my career. I also want to take a shower. I'm also like, ooh, okay. So this started with someone just trolling this person. Got Tyler Herro in trouble, got Tyler Herro betrayed. Tyler Herro.

[Zach]

Yep.

[Mike]

Has been trying to bother Tyler Herro since this started. Has been a nuisance. A fly around an elephant's tail since December. And I'm now going to give him his anonymity. The shield of I'm gonna give him cover and present to the audience a quote unquote gu. Get when this all started with retire ho. For a 26 year old player, an all star Zad you understand why I feel dirty about this?

[Zach]

Yeah, I thought the whole thing was gross. I mean, I'm fine with us talking to him because I think people are clearly interested in it. It's why the clips have gone viral. But just, you know, we were platforming a troll. That's. That's Just what he is. He's just a troll.

[Dan Le Batard]

We challenged him on that.

[Zach]

We did. No, we did.

[Dan Le Batard]

Of what we did.

[Tony]

He was a waste, man.

[Dan Le Batard]

We did good work.

[Zach]

I don't know that means. But you keep saying that.

[Dan Le Batard]

We did really good work. We. We held him accountable for being such a hating ass hater. And I'm proud of the work that we did. That. That was entertaining. It was hard hitting journalism. It was a timely story. We were all interested in how that whole thing came to be. We got insight. We illuminated an audience that was thirsty to know.

[Mike]

Yeah, okay, but feeding the craven needs of an audience?

[Dan Le Batard]

I don't even understand what that means.

[Zach]

That's a Marvel character.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah. Kraven the Hunter. Yeah.

[Mike]

You don't understand. I feel like you do understand what I mean.

[Dan Le Batard]

I do, but I also think that you chose that word on purpose to make us feel dumb.

[Mike]

Craven.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah, Craven. Craven something. Can we get a ladder so you can do this segment from on high?

[Mike]

So wait a minute. You think it's craving instead of the G? It's no G. Apostrophe.

[Tony]

Craving. They're craving it.

[Mike]

So the needs craving it. No, it's C R A V E, N is.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Tony]

The hunter.

[Zach]

That's how he spells it.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah. Aaron Taylor Johnson.

[Zach]

I like that movie.

[Mike]

You know what? I'm honestly, not a lot. I'm not.

[Dan Le Batard]

It was weird that Chameleon would never get tall, Right? Like he could replicate what other people look like. Yeah, but then Craven's like, oh my God, it looks like me. But he's the size of Messi. I mean, I don't fool anybody.

[Zach]

I don't know all the rules when it comes to Chameleon and what his abilities were. I know. That movie got panned. I like that movie. I've seen it several times.

[Dan Le Batard]

You've seen Craven several times?

[Zach]

I think it's rewatchable. Yeah.

[Dan Le Batard]

I like the biggest box office.

[Zach]

I don't care.

[Dan Le Batard]

You've seen it several times.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Dan Le Batard]

Wow.

[Zach]

Yeah. That's a good movie.

[Mike]

Dan, I don't trust your movie opinion. You've been wanting to talk about he man for two weeks.

[Zach]

Oh, I can't wait till it's streaming. It's streaming next week. I can't wait. It doesn't even matter if it's streaming for free yet. If I have to purchase it, I don't care. I. I have to watch he man again. I'm going to watch it on the couch in the Zazzle Mansion family. I'm still looking for that new couch. My current couch. It's uncomfortable. I don't like it. But it's not going to prevent me from enjoying he man.

[Mike]

Put it on the poll at Le Batard show. Do you question the movie judgments of someone talking too much about he man. You're also saying you're going to go see the. Is it the Odyssey or is it just Odyssey?

[Zach]

You know about Odysseus. You know about Homer's the Odyssey.

[Dan Le Batard]

You know, I'm glad you touched on that, Zaz. A lot of people do. And my favorite thing about the Odyssey is, hey, no spoilers.

[Zach]

You know about those sirens.

[Mike]

You're going to see it tonight in the theater.

[Zach]

I can't wait to see what those sirens are.

[Mike]

I wanted there. I saw a commercial. I saw a couple of commercials yesterday that I wanted to talk to you guys about one of them. I was not aware that in November in theaters, coming out is the movie I play Rocky, and it's about the story behind Rocky and how Sylvester Stallone got the movie made. And I just had a big smile on my face when I'm watching the trailer because they've done such a good job of picking the actors that they really do like the people involved in what that trailer is. And so they've made of that franchise. It really is one of the greatest moviemaking franchise. Like it's gotta be in the top five in terms of the number of movies they've been able to make about this single subject over 40 years.

[Zach]

Had nine. Right.

[Mike]

Well, only one of them was really bad because the second, the Rocky franchise is not unlike Lionel Messi, where the first. The first four were really good, but they somehow reinvent. Reinvented the franchise.

[Dan Le Batard]

Never happened.

[Zach]

Yeah, the fifth, fifth one's terrible. The sixth one's actually good.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah. Rocky 5 never happened.

[Zach]

And then the 3 creed.

[Mike]

Yeah, but the Balboa. Yeah, all the, all the Creed ripoffs, but this as a, as a sequel.

[Zach]

Don't say ripoff.

[Dan Le Batard]

Ripoff.

[Mike]

I'm sorry. Well, it's not the right word to use because it's disrespectful. What made you think that sequels or whatever, remake spin offs is. What is the word I should have used instead of much better? Yes, thank you. Because the Creed series, this is Rocky adjacent. But it's not Rocky. It's. I play Rocky and it's in theaters. They're asking you. They're asking a demographic from the 70s and 80s that believes in the movie theaters to come over here. We're not gonna do this one on streaming. We're gonna put this one in the theaters for you.

[Dan Le Batard]

I don't think people have any idea of how improbable the Rocky franchise is and how improbable Sylvester Stallone story in particular is. And yeah, he's already sly. And people would be left aghast if they realized that he was compared to Jack Nicholson is like, this is the thespian of our time. He was plucked from obscurity and he fought like hell to get this movie made.

[Zach]

I think a story's gonna do well.

[Dan Le Batard]

The story behind it is fascinating and the movie will introduce a lot of people to that.

[Mike]

Oh, but it will do well because you're casting such a wide net. You're teaching some kids about history and this will be a realistic take on how hard it was for him to get that movie made.

[Dan Le Batard]

Oh, it was a bigger underdog story than Rock.

[Mike]

That's right. And Rocky himself has a statue in a great sports town because this is multiple statues. This is the height of both moviemaking in sports because it's a sports movie, maybe the best ever made. Like, you guys can argue about this all you like, but certainly there hasn't been a more enduring movie made about sports than this one. And the story behind it is also improbable because he wanted to play in really was. He's 80 now. We're doing the docs on him and Schwarzenegger. Sylvester Stallone is 80 and he dragged action figures from the 50s year old age to the 80 year old age because he's still doing tough guy stuff on television. And that began with him insisting that he plays someone he wrote, not wanting to hand that off to someone else so that it could be their portrayal or their soul in the creativity. The idea that a meathead being a creative king, not just an action star, a creative king. Cuz he owns all that Rocky stuff. Cuz he insisted on it. It's one of the great sports stories of all time and one of the great film stories of all time.

[Zach]

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[Mike]

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[Tony]

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[Dan Le Batard]

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[Mike]

Lebatar. Jessica thinks you're pathetic. I saw the look on her face. It can never be the lane to victory.

[Zach]

Matt.

[Mike]

No, I think Jeremy's pathetic.

[Zach]

Jeremy just.

[Mike]

You should hear him back here.

[Jeremy]

He's so sad.

[Zach]

Delivered the most absurd theater kid basketball

[Dan Le Batard]

analysis line that I've ever heard from him.

[Mike]

Jeremy Tache.

[Jeremy]

My dad was talking about the adjustments that SPO made and criticizing him last night.

[Mike]

And Jeremy just back here.

[Jeremy]

His adjustments were spectacular.

[Mike]

It's just like they lost.

[Duracell Ad Narrator]

They're down. Oh, two.

[Mike]

This is the Dan Levatar show. The other commercial that I saw yesterday and I got really mad at this commercial and I was surprised at my level of anger at the commercial. Because you cover sports for, I don't know, it's going on 40 years now. And so you've seen labor stoppages and when things are great and baseball's just figured it out, like they just. They made all the changes they had to make. And the sport that I've always loved, love more than football, love more than all of them. This sport has always been forward thinking and ahead on the media game for as much. They could be a musty pastime. This sport has been really ahead of football, of hockey, of basketball, on how they do media things. For example, the entire digital age is something that they got to. And the MLB Network covers their sport better than the NFL Network ever covered football.

[Jeremy]

Their technology on streaming is the technology on streaming for all of these other leagues, like they invented it.

[Mike]

Baseball learned of the future 10 years before everyone else in sports. And it saved Manfred, and it saved bad management. And Manfred, this is why I got angry, okay? One of the things that got us in trouble at ESPN is Manfred doing one of the single worst commissioner interviews you'll ever hear. And I'm in it. This got lost in it. This was secondary. But he's sitting there advocating for tanking, like being okay with the idea of payrolls being nothing and the Astros being terrible for several years just so they could get good.

[Dan Le Batard]

Was it worse than Bob Costas Vince

[Mike]

McMahon put on the poll at LeBatard show which interview was a worse commissioner interview? Because I don't think of Vince McMahon as a commissioner. Is he a commissioner?

[Dan Le Batard]

There was no. He was ahead of it. But like, there was that one time where he just like little Roy rage, slaps the papers out of his hand. Man, that was great.

[Zach]

Inches up to the edge of his seat.

[Mike]

Yeah, it's great.

[Dan Le Batard]

I got scared.

[Mike]

Bob Costa showed me how good he is at television. Just smirking and Smiling in the face of Vince McMahon, wasn't afraid, who looked like he was going to hit him.

[Ad Host 2]

But.

[Mike]

So, Manfred, it was a bad interview for a lot of different reasons.

[Dan Le Batard]

I'm not going to be deposed.

[Mike]

And I was actually journalistically prepared to ask him questions about specifically what they've done to baseball in South Florida, which is use it as a brothel. Like they just. And one of his answers was, well, I have a home in Florida. Okay, look, this guy protects rich, greedy people, many of whom are rich, greedy fools. And they have done something in the South Florida market that is offensive for a lot of different reasons, including help dismantle two champions while always using this city as a brothel. When the Latin community around this has shown you during the World Baseball Classic, it would support something that is properly run, that has some soul in it. But to see this commercial when we're clearly headed for a work stoppage, as you have not seen this, I was watching it for the first time. Manfred is defending the idea that this is a good idea for a commercial.

[Jeremy]

Like to see a little bit more parody, man.

[Dan Le Batard]

A little bit more competition.

[Zach]

Let's give these young guys like a salary for 100%. He's a salary cap. That's the biggest issue in baseball right now. You got a loaded team like the

[Mike]

Dodgers going against teams that don't have any big names. It needs to be more equitable.

[Dan Le Batard]

Gets imbalanced big time.

[Mike]

When it comes to big market, small market, NBA, NHL and football. It seems to be more competitive.

[Dan Le Batard]

If it's fair, it's more competitive. Fun for baseball.

[Mike]

I've never seen a commercial before for the salary cap.

[Zach]

That's pretty amazing.

[Tony]

It's like socialist propaganda.

[MLB Commercial Narrator]

Like, what the.

[Jeremy]

Pretty wild.

[Mike]

I've just never in my history covering sports seen a marketing team that is ahead of everybody on the future. Warning you 18 months from now, let me sell that this is not going to be our fault. Our sport needs it. We need to put a cap on the players. Not. Not because the owners greedy and the commissioner can't control them. They need the costs to be fixed because they can't control themselves. Let's do propaganda using fan voices and let's point to the Dodgers. Oh, the Dodgers are ruining it, aren't they?

[Dan Le Batard]

If I may though, like, that is the main issue fans have and it is a smart move. Yeah, it's a little dirty because now they want to listen to their fans. Okay, they're using them. But in small markets, that's the complaint overwhelmingly, that, that it's not fair that the Dodgers get all the players that the Yankees get all the players. It, it's smart to have the fans literally give voice to what is a popular movement.

[Zach]

I, I think that's going to work. Like, it's weird. It's amazing to see it. I've never seen that before. I think it's going to work because the main issue is going to be salary cap and the owners want a salary cap. It's the players who, who don't want a salary cap. Fans are going to wind up signing with the owners there. And I'll tell you to Mike's point, my, my younger son, my 14 year old son, he refuses to watch baseball with me because the answer he always gives is it's unfair. You got one team that spends all the money and our team down here, specifically the Marlins, they don't spend any money. To him, baseball's not fair. He refuses to watch.

[Tony]

Okay, so I'm looking at a list of the last 10 or so world Series winners. Dodgers have been obviously back to back. Diamondbacks, Rangers, we call those big market teams. Houston versus Philly.

[Dan Le Batard]

The Rangers, yeah.

[Tony]

Atlanta versus Houston. Tampa versus the Dodgers. Washington versus Houston. Like there really hasn't been this dominance of like these huge market teams.

[Zach]

Oh, but the money helps you get to the playoffs.

[Dan Le Batard]

They're always in the conversation. Yeah, but they're always in the conversation. I just think it's funny that the owners are beating the players to like. No, we speak for the little guy. You have the billionaires going against the millionaires and they're using the little guy to boost the argument for the billionaires.

[Zach]

But when in all of these labor disputes in any of our sports here, when does the public sentiment ever side with the players?

[Mike]

This is why I got angry though. Okay? No, they're using the Dodgers as the owners can't control themselves. They don't know how to control themselves. All of us would like to have the owner who spends. That's not where we're putting our attention. Hey, players, fix this. Players, you're at fault for wanting, you know, capitalism. They're filing it under the umbrella of let's have equitable playing field when baseball makes it an equitable playing field. The Dodgers are an aberration. They're better than everyone else this year. Their run differential is better than everyone else's this year. They can do ridiculous things because they've gamed the system, because they know all the moneyball things. And their regional television contract is something that fixes the games and allows them to always have a faucet of more money. But the part that I'm bothered by is you saying, yeah, Dan, it's going to work. Yeah, of course it's going to work. Fans always want money taken away from the players. That's always the solution. When I'm always now, man, free market. Let Steve Cohen, Let Steve Cohen buy all the players that he wants. Let him run up the price on Soto so it's $760 million. And instead of fixing it because your owner can be responsible because a rich person couldn't be entit because a commissioner has control of his sport. Nah, players, you employees, you fix it for us. And yeah, of course it's gonna work because the whole system is gamed to make sure that the player has to give back the money because we don't care that the owners make it.

[Dan Le Batard]

Outside of the icky feeling that I have that the owners colluded to like, hey, let's have the fans do our bidding here and take the money away from the millionaires. They just touched on it in that video. Salary cap doesn't do much for me. I don't really believe in a salary cap. I think, I think in a free market, what jacks me up as a sports fan, especially in of that sport, is the salary floor.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Dan Le Batard]

As a fan living in a market where they famously do not spend nearly enough money, I think that should have been the messaging. Like, hey, we, we're guaranteeing that our, our teams spend more on acquiring talent.

[Jeremy]

But that's not what's like they're not going to do that without a salary cap. That's the whole thing. Of course players would be fine with a salary.

[Dan Le Batard]

I mean, Jeremy, they could, but I, but they won't.

[Jeremy]

Which is why that messaging is, is sort of irrelevant. And Tony and I were just talking about it. Like if I ask, asked any of you, from a product perspective, how has baseball been the last two years as compared to the 15 years before? Doing great. It's as entertaining as it's ever been. Who won the last two years? The Dodgers. The behemoth. But they're trying to convince you that you're getting a bad product when that's not the case.

[Mike]

But this is what they've always done. Look, I've told you before that Scott Boris used to say as the super agent, baseball is the only business anywhere in the world where what they do is kick the can down the grocery store aisle, kick the can down the grocery style aisle, dent it, bruise it, kick it, then put it back, back up on the shelf and then ask you to purchase it. They're going to keep blaming the players for the owners not being able to control themselves. And the thing that makes me mad, Zaz, is that most fans are going to agree when none of the fans listening. Not a one would want a salary cap in their place of employment. You'd want to make as much as you're worth. You'd want to be making an amount of money that doesn't cap the the ability to make money because you're asking the employers to do the job of the owners. The idea, okay, and I really feel for as much as we about all the numbers in sports, people don't understand and have not understood until recently. These owners have been making so much money. The reason they can afford Soto is because they've been underpaying these people for so long. But anyone listening to this will always say, but they're playing a game. They shouldn't make millions of dollars for it. They're not earning it the way that the rich guy earned it. Let's play the second part of this commercial. And it's about. It's about the idea. And they make a good argument. They are getting out ahead of this with propaganda. And I just can't believe, I can't believe how obvious this is and how it's going to work anyway.

[MLB Commercial Narrator]

If you're a baseball fan, you've probably been seeing headlines like these about fairness in baseball and keeping the sport competitive. Simply put, it all comes down to a rapidly growing payroll disparity between teams. In fact, over the past three seasons, the top three budget teams spent more than 21 other teams combined. The Yankees and Dodgers rank first and second in payroll and have the two best winning percentages in baseball.

[Mike]

It's a political ad. It should say at the end, this message brought to you by greedy people.

[Dan Le Batard]

No league's ever done commercials about a work stoppage to try to curry favor and sway public opinion before. This is unprecedented.

[Mike]

There's a third part of this. Let me play the third part of it where they're just comparing themselves to other sports and they're saying because they couldn't control themselves. Look for the history of this. I do want people to understand how far back this goes. Okay? Baseball's union and Marvin Miller were the first and way out ahead on leading on behalf of rights for the employees. I don't need to explain to the audience how America and employers and rich people don't like unions. They don't like unions because unions advocate for employee fairness. All of you have seen enough about how terrible the greed is among the very wealthiest who are addicted to wealth. Correct. You've all seen how America is getting more and more distorted by the addictions to greed that these rich people have. Marvin Miller is a pioneer hall of Fame leader because he simply had the strength to say, no. No salary cap. What are you talking about? It's America. It's capitalism. What's salary cap? Get your shit in order. Like you're rich people. Can't you control yourself? And the answer is no. As soon as this rich guy wants what the other rich guy has as a toy, then what they do is cheapen the toy. They don't sit there and control themselves. And so here's the third part of this propaganda.

[MLB Commercial Narrator]

MLB is the only league where large market teams significantly outperform small market teams. And no small market team has won it in over a decade. And setting rings aside, most teams can't keep the stars that fill the stands. MLB fans overwhelmingly believe baseball's no longer a fair game. In fact, 79% support implementing a salary cap. And the league is listening. It's time to catch up with every other major US Sports league and create a salary cap and floor in baseball.

[Mike]

And floor. It's so good, they'll give you the floor in exchange for the cap. And what they've done over the years and they're catching baseball at such a good time because these unions have been poorly run and you've got a whole bunch of greedy people just grabbing at the dollars that are in the corners. So you have a lot of corruption and you've got a bunch of players who want, like chefs in the clubhouse and want candy instead of some of the bigger things that some people end up worrying about. So here are the players, Zaz during the all star game, or some of them saying, no, I don't want my salary capped. I think it's bad for the game. The game's in a great spot.

[Ad Host 2]

Right.

[Mike]

You know, I just don't support that. I think if the billionaires are wanting

[Dan Le Batard]

it, you know, they're. They're billionaires for a reason and they want to continue to enhance their portfolio as most.

[Jeremy]

As much as possible.

[Dan Le Batard]

And most players understand that. And so the answer to your question is no good.

[Ad Host 2]

Matt.

[Dan Le Batard]

The biggest thing for me is every other league has a cap and not one of those players like it. So why would we agree to something that no other player likes?

[Mike]

I think it's bad for everyone.

[Dan Le Batard]

I think it's even bad for the

[Mike]

teams, bad for the players. Bad for everyone else. So yeah, I'm not in favor.

[Zach]

Bad for baseball.

[Mike]

We're in a good spot where we are, so we'll just see what happens with the lockout. So the part I want to examine with you guys is, after everything you just heard, we're all going to end up with the assessment of, yeah, players greet.

[Dan Le Batard]

I mean, they don't come off great there either. Yeah, your argument is. Well, all the other sports have it, but the players hate it. I, if my football team doesn't have a chance, it's because I have a bad organization. But it's not like I feel like the, the league is unfair, right? Like in baseball, I feel like I've got no shot.

[Zach]

You can't just say it's bad for baseball. And that's your argument. Like, how is it actually bad for baseball? It would be good for baseball. It's bad for the players, that's for sure. Okay, it's bad for every. But no, it's not. It's only bad for the players.

[Mike]

So, so explain to me why. Because you've heard me say, all of you have heard that the biggest single gulf between the people playing sports and the customers who pay for sports is money Guy. Woman in the stands, doesn't love her job, doesn't make a million dollars a year, looks out at the field and says they get to play games for a living. Everybody would want to do that. Any amount of money, I would want to do that. Just help me, help me do the smallest of things that can pay for my family. These players are greedy. There is no way for players to win this argument from any angle. The world, the sport, is going to stop just as they fix just about everything except the fact that the best hitters can't hit. The best pitchers can't even make contact. Except for that little fact, that important one. It's impossible to hit 105 mile an hour fastball when you're a human being. Outside of that, they fix just about everything.

[Jeremy]

I have a cat. His name is Mac. That's after Mac from Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Which means I spend a pretty surprising amount of time trying to impress someone who clearly doesn't respect me at all. Which now is something I'm realizing I do both at work and at home. So I gotta get that straight. But it's really why I use Chewy. They've got over a hundred thousand products. So whether it's food, treats, or a new toy that Mac is gonna ignore for three days until he suddenly becomes obsessed with it, they have it and it shows up in one or two days. I've told you, Chewy is maybe my favorite company that exists. They have prescriptions, pet insurance, telehealth, vet visits and 247 customer service. Plus if my cat changes his mind, which happens on a near daily basis, Chewy's satisfaction guarantee makes returns easy. I use Chewy, and I'm telling you you should too. For life with pets, there's Chewy. And right now you could save $20 on your first order and get free shipping by going to chewpanions.chewy.com levatarcho that's chupanyon.chewy.com levitardshow to save $20 on your first order with free shipping. Minimum purchase required. New customers only. Terms and conditions apply. See site for complete details.

[Dan Le Batard]

Tony, you know that moment at a party or at a tailgate where everything just sort of clicks?

[Tony]

I know it well. It's usually when I show up, everybody goes crazy.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah, you usually take all the credit for it, but it's because Tony usually walks in with Cuervo. Walking like this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cuervo is a thing that turns hanging out into this is the night.

[Tony]

It has that effect on people.

[Dan Le Batard]

It does. You usually take the credit for it. But again, it's the Cuervo effect. It's like that moment in a big game where everyone in the crowd just starts standing up, hooting and hollering. Keep it Cuervo.

[Mike]

Keep it Cuervo, baby.

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[Mike]

Dan Levatar the hoodie is Captain Slappy. Jonathan Saslow is this chum bucket. This is the Dan Levatar Show. If I ask all of you in a vacuum, hey, do you guys side with owners or employees? Are most of you owners or employees? Explain to me the disconnect between almost everyone saying, no, I don't need a rich, really rich person to get even richer. But nah, take it from the players. It's got to be taken from the players. It's not, hey, build your own league equitably without the help of a salary cap. It's not owners. Hey, do your job correctly with your money. It's take the money from the players. That's the right way to do it.

[Zach]

I don't think people like me look at it the way you are framing the discussion where it's do you take the side of players or do you take the side of owners. To me it's do you take the side of players or do you take the side of the teams? And I am always going to be on the side of the team.

[Ad Host 1]

Correct.

[Mike]

But that's how they game the entirety of it. And that's how every player loses the holdout dispute because the player is the one keeping you from your feel good. Even though I keep telling you no, it's not. It's the owner keeping you from your feel good and telling you you should blame the player. And you're already predisposed to it because you believe that whatever's not good for your team is always caused by the player and not the owner.

[Zach]

Well, in this case it would be right. Because what the team is trying to see, it's not that they want to pay the pl, that they want the players to make less money in order for the game to be more competitively balanced. The result is going to be a cap which will force the players to make less money.

[Dan Le Batard]

You found it. So in theory it is less money for the top end, but in theory

[Zach]

I'm going to be on the side of the team, slash owner. Because I believe what they are doing is in the best arguments for keeping everything competitive, which makes me happy as a fan.

[Jeremy]

The argument from the players is that there are plenty of teams that have been small market teams. Whether you look at Cleveland, whether you look look at Tampa that win year after year after year as a smaller market team. And they actually think that the cap sort of does the opposite because what it does in their minds, and this is, this is a quote from Bruce Meyer, who's the MLBPA interim executive director. He said the owners want a system that not only guarantees their profits, not only increases their franchise values, but essentially is a form of subsidized mediocrity. A salary cap is the ultimate excuse not to compete. And you could make that argument that there are plenty of teams in either the NFL.

[Dan Le Batard]

I mean, look at the Dolphins cav sports at tank. Yeah.

[Jeremy]

Where and by the way, those teams tank. They, their franchise hopes can change on a dime because of tanking in baseball. A lot of the time it takes years before those kids that you've drafted ultimately get to your program. So everybody's going to be in a completely different position.

[Dan Le Batard]

I'm always gonna be on the side of the players, especially in that sport, considering the history of players versus owners, just them getting over the reserve clause. Kurt Flood had to sacrifice his career because he didn't want to go to Philadelphia. After all the racist stuff that's been in that city, he wanted to choose where he wanted to go.

[Mike]

Well, this is the part, though, of the history that I think sort of gets neglected in. However it is this is gonna move today's young fans. Okay, I understand everything ZSAS is saying. You want your team to have not just a chance. Usually you'd like your team to have an advantage because nobody, whoever's complaining about this probably isn't Dodger. Fans, like, the people winning are fine with how baseball is. Everybody else wants to have a chance. I don't think Yankee fans care one way or the other whether there's a salary cap or a salary floor. But if they do care, they're probably fine with the way it is because they have an advantage like it. The money is an absolute advantage. But baseball takes away some of the advantage because of what the randomness of the playoffs is and because the Marlins have a very good team. Because what I want my team to have to do, I want my architects to have to be smarter than the other team's architects. I don't care how I arrive at that, whether it's because.

[Dan Le Batard]

So legislate equality.

[Mike]

Well, no, I want. Sure. I don't want to legit. You're saying it legislates equality, but it doesn't legislate equality. Because the Mets have all the money in the world and they're still terrible. Like, I want the. The.

[Zach]

The.

[Mike]

The organization that runs my interests, I want them to have to be better at it than the other teams are.

[Dan Le Batard]

Well, baseball is in a unique position in that.

[Zach]

Look, they.

[Dan Le Batard]

They've had a blessed deal in being uncapped in America. We're used to our sports being capped here. What would happen in the NFL if there was no salary cap? It would suck. It would suck. Dallas would sign all the players. You wouldn't have a dynasty like you had in Kansas City. It would be unfair. There would be no point in it. It'd become what has happened in college football, which is like, well, you got the most money, you got your shot. You can be Texas Tech and be in the conversation every year, provided that you have money and you're buying up the best players.

[Mike]

But the Thing about this though, Mike, is that baseball has a way of rectifying this so much. I know we're doing it now because of what the Dodgers have been. The Dodgers have had the biggest advantage, money wise in the sport since Magic Johnson bought into their ownership and they signed that television television contract 10 years ago. This sport is random, but they haven't won 10 titles.

[Dan Le Batard]

No, they're uniquely positioned because it. Spending money for the most part guarantees you a lottery ticket into the playoffs.

[Mike]

Yeah, no, no, I just.

[Dan Le Batard]

The Mets are an outlier. The Mets are an outlier. We just pulled up 10 years worth of data. If you spend a lot of money, it's an advantage, it's a huge advantage in giving you an extra lotto ticket to get into the tournament. Which, yes, we're playing a bit of random ball there. It's where it's unlike all the other sports because if this happened in the other sports, the teams with the most money would win the championship because those sports aren't nearly as random.

[Mike]

Well, you, you say that right, because basketball and hockey aren't. But football playoffs can also be random. But let's examine for a second the idea that what we now want is every fan base to have a chance. You believe right now that in baseball, given the, given the basketball season that we just watched, you believe that with the Marlins with the lowest payroll in the sport being 10 games over 500 that have less of a chance of winning in baseball than they do in basketball. Like you have a ton of tankers in the salary capped sport.

[Dan Le Batard]

What's preventing you have more tankers in the non salary cap sport though? Let's not pretend like baseball doesn't have a tanking issue.

[Mike]

No, I'm not saying they don't have a tanking issue, but when they tanked, the Houston Astros then got really good. Like they were rewarded for the tanking in a way that made 100 loss team all of a sudden be the champion no matter what the payroll disparities were.

[Zach]

Wouldn't this Marlins team have a much better chance of winning if there was a salary cap in baseball? Because it would be leveled out at the top. And they're being really smart the way they built their team.

[Mike]

My yes, of course they would have advantages if they were spending more. But what I'm telling you is the necessity of not having money and having to do it the way that they have. The Marlins could absolutely enter a seven game series against anybody right now with healthy pitching and they can win a seven game series against any team in the sport. It's with the lowest payroll in the entire sport. Baseball has a way of fixing this and making money matter less and salary caps less. That you shouldn't actually be swayed by this propaganda just because it's easier to argue on its behalf. Like baseball playoffs. Make it so that the Dodgers have this advantage and it has not bought them the title every year, or even most years, or even 20% of the years, given that they've had this television contract. Since when? When did the advantage start? Because they signed a 25 year deal that changed the entire paradigm of the sport. The Dodgers became the Yankees. The Yankees used to have all of the financial advantages. What year was that, Jeremy?

[Jeremy]

That was 2013.

[Mike]

And so give me all the champions since 2013 that aren't the Dodgers.

[Tony]

All right, since 2013, the Red Sox, the Giants, the Royals, the Cubs, the Astros, the Red Sox, the Nationals, they won in 2020, the Braves, the Astros, the Rangers, and they've won the last two.

[Dan Le Batard]

The Royals are the outlier.

[Mike]

The Royals were in two World Series, weren't they?

[Dan Le Batard]

Yep.

[Jeremy]

So the players have their alternative version of this. By the way, guys, like right now, the competitive balance tax exists on the top end. So when you reach a certain threshold of spending, the ownership group needs to contribute a balance tax into the league. What they want to do is introduce a concept called the competitive integrity tax, which is on the low end. So they create a. A floor of $150 million salary, and for every dollar that you're underneath, that the ownership group needs to contribute a tax.

[Zach]

Great.

[Jeremy]

What that essentially does is create a soft floor and a soft cap for these owners rather than taking it specifically from the player money and keeping them within there. They also proposed a much more equitable local TV revenue sharing deal that I think is a little bit different from what the owners have thus far, at least according to the CSPN article.

[Mike]

You guys do understand, right, that the reason that this is happening, the reason that this is happening is because the other owners can't control little Stevie Cohen. Like that's the problem. That what the Mets owner is spending so much money and he makes Soto's contract. We were complaining not that long about Giancarlo stanton having a $200 million contract. And in a few years or in a decade, you got Juan Soto almost quadrupling that contract.

[Zach]

But if the owners decided not to give out these massive free agent contracts like we're not doing it, we're gonna exhibit self control. We're not doing it. Wouldn't we all be screaming about collusion.

[Dan Le Batard]

I don't know how sports fans can parse. Well, baseball should have it one way and all the other American sports don't. That's where you miss a lot of people with it. We're so preconditioned to, to. These sports are capped over here. That's just the American way. So the baseball players, they've benefited plenty

[Mike]

from their system, but it's the anti American way. Like if you look at the way the rest of the entire country has been built, it's the absolute anti American way. Capitalism. You're advocating on behalf of something that's not free market.

[Dan Le Batard]

Either make them all uncapped or make them all capped.

[Mike]

Uncapitalism.