newsweek
Major League Baseball owners have not yet locked out players from the 2027 season, but predictions of a doomsday scenario are already circulating. Philadelphia Phillies superstar Bryce Harper is the latest to sound the alarm.
In a post on his TikTok account, Harper indicated that the upcoming offseason would stretch from March through October, implying a potential work stoppage. The current Collective Bargaining Agreement between MLB and the MLB Players' Association is set to expire on December 1. While negotiations are ongoing, players are not required to strike, nor are owners obligated to lock players out. Nevertheless, Harper is not alone in anticipating a worst-case scenario.
ESPN's Buster Olney, speaking on the Baseball Tonight podcast, outlined a grim outlook. "The owners are so certain about getting a salary cap this time around that if, in fact, through a logjam of negotiations we lose the first couple months" of the 2027 season, "the owners' perspective might be, like, 'You know what? We've already lost so much money this year in 2027 we're not going to change our position. If we lose the year we're going to wait 'em out.' They might just go into a bunker. It certainly doesn't look good."
Olney also reflected on the 1994-95 players' strike, noting that dissenting owners like Peter Angelos, who refused to use replacement players, fragmented ownership. "That fragmented the owners to some degree," Olney said. "You don't see that as much now."
Even New York Yankees chairman Hal Steinbrenner has recently expressed support for a hard salary cap. The cap-and-floor system proposed by owners would limit team payrolls, making it harder for big-market teams to spend freely on top free agents. Yet with players and owners potentially heading toward an extended work stoppage, the owner of baseball's most valuable franchise is willing to voluntarily restrict his spending power.
In other words, Harper's ominous prediction did not come out of nowhere. And unlike most, he actually has a seat at the bargaining table.
Originally reported by newsweek.