I agree with the spirit of this, for sure. The randomness of the new playoff format makes it harder for the moneybag teams to entirely keep the moneyball teams down, but the Dodgers and Yankees seem intent on testing that theory. I look forward to seeing them fail, as I don’t think they’ll win more than a single title between them in the next decade. The sport just doesn’t work that way. If the lower third of the league stops reaching World Series and league champions series altogether in the next ten years or so, I’ll revise my position accordingly, though.
That being said, there will always be a strong case for a salary cap in this sport, and mlb is going to continue to look ridiculous when the nfl and nba both have thriving leagues making owners and players incredible amounts of money and garnering major advertising attention while also having salary caps. But I don’t think Ohtani is the poster boy for the salary cap argument. The guy is simply a unicorn. If we revivified Babe Ruth at the peak of his powers, he would command such a salary. They are incomparable cases.