It Pays to Play

What is the first thing you would buy if you signed a contract worth 324 million dollars? What about a contract worth 426.5 million dollars?  

That may sound like a dream to the majority of people, but to a few MLB players, this is a reality for them in their free agent offseason.

When the MLB season comes to an end, headlines begin following the top free agents to see where they will be signing. 

The record for the highest paid players in free agent offseason belongs to 2018 offseason headliners Manny Machado and Bryce Harper, who brought in a combined 630 million dollars two years ago. 

The three highest-paid players in the three major sports are Matt Ryan, an NFL quarterback who has a 5 year 150 million dollar contract, Russell Westbrook, an NBA point guard who has a 5 year 206.8 million dollar contract, and lastly Mike Trout, an MLB center fielder who has the largest sports contract of all time bringing in 430 million dollars over 12 years. 

Trout’s contract is worth more than those two contracts combined. 

 One may be wondering why these baseball players are getting such massive contracts in comparison to other major sports athletes?

This is due to a unique factor in baseball in which there is no salary cap, although other sports have them.

A salary cap is an agreement that places a limit on the amount of money that teams are allowed to spend on player’s salaries. 

The NFL’s salary cap is 133 million dollars a year for player contracts, the NBA’s is 109 million and the MLB’s salary cap is nonexistent. 

Instead what the MLB has is a luxury tax, which is a recommended number to stay under and if exceeded, a fine must be paid. This means MLB teams are allowed to spend as much money as they want. 

The minimum yearly salary for the MLB is 563.5 thousand dollars which is greater than the NFL’s by 83.5 thousand dollars. 

 When it comes down to it,  playing baseball pays. 

Baseball players tend to have longer careers and contracts which means they end up making more money overall.

What is the first thing you would buy if you signed a contract worth 324 million dollars? What about a contract worth 426.5 million dollars?  

That may sound like a dream to the majority of people, but to a few MLB players, this is a reality for them in their free agent offseason.

When the MLB season comes to an end, headlines begin following the top free agents to see where they will be signing. 

The record for the highest paid players in free agent offseason belongs to 2018 offseason headliners Manny Machado and Bryce Harper, who brought in a combined 630 million dollars two years ago. 

The three highest-paid players in the three major sports are Matt Ryan, an NFL quarterback who has a 5 year 150 million dollar contract, Russell Westbrook, an NBA point guard who has a 5 year 206.8 million dollar contract, and lastly Mike Trout, an MLB center fielder who has the largest sports contract of all time bringing in 430 million dollars over 12 years. 

Trout’s contract is worth more than those two contracts combined. 

 One may be wondering why these baseball players are getting such massive contracts in comparison to other major sports athletes?

This is due to a unique factor in baseball in which there is no salary cap, although other sports have them.

A salary cap is an agreement that places a limit on the amount of money that teams are allowed to spend on player’s salaries. 

The NFL’s salary cap is 133 million dollars a year for player contracts, the NBA’s is 109 million and the MLB’s salary cap is nonexistent. 

Instead what the MLB has is a luxury tax, which is a recommended number to stay under and if exceeded, a fine must be paid. This means MLB teams are allowed to spend as much money as they want. 

The minimum yearly salary for the MLB is 563.5 thousand dollars which is greater than the NFL’s by 83.5 thousand dollars. 

 When it comes down to it,  playing baseball pays. 

Baseball players tend to have longer careers and contracts which means they end up making more money overall.