Reply #5: My Point Is Centered on whether a Salary Cap Determines Outcome [View All]

[Yavin4]

To most people, the presence of a salary cap makes the leagues more competitively balanced. Looking at the number of teams that participate in the finals for each sport over the past ten years shows that the presence nor absence of a salary cap does not determine who participates in the finals of each sport.

Because MLB has no salary cap, we should expect that the number of teams that participate in the finals of its sport should be less than the leagues with a salary cap. But, that's not the case.

The strictly capped NBA's Western conference has the most skewed results. Just two teams have won the conference for 10 out of the last 11 years. If a salary cap determines balance, should we not see multiple teams win from the West over a 10 year period?

Since the inception of MLB's Wild Card in 1995, 26 out of the 30 MLB teams have made the playoffs (86%) with 17 out of the 30 teams reaching the World Series at least once (56%). Given that MLB has no salary cap, should not these numbers be skewed towards only those teams that spend the most money?