David Rubenstein said the quiet part out loud. In an interview with Baltimore Baseball, the Baltimore Orioles owner admitted that yep, team owners make a ton of money, which is perhaps not the message the league wants to convey weeks before the owners are expected to initiate a lockout and work stoppage. The collective bargaining agreement expires at 11:59 p.m. ET on Dec. 1.

"A lot of my friends were buying teams, and I realized they're making money. They're making more money than I'm making in private equity," Rubenstein told Baltimore Baseball. "I thought I should look at it as a financial thing, but ultimately I bought the Orioles for a philanthropic purpose. I grew up in Baltimore, as people know. I didn't think I'd done enough for Baltimore, so I bought the team to help revive the team a bit and ultimately revive Baltimore because Baltimore had some challenges."

Rubenstein also said the "owners care more about winning than making money (but they're) not against making money."  

This is refreshing honesty from Rubenstein, really. It wasn't too long ago that MLB's owners were telling fans that owning a team "isn't very profitable," something that isn't even the tiniest bit believable. MLB has since shifted its rhetoric away from "owning a team isn't profitable" to "we need a salary cap for competitive balance," which has a better chance of resonating with fans.

No matter which team wins the ALCS, we're in for a small-market World Series. The Milwaukee Brewers swept the two-time defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers (the villain in most of MLB's salary cap messaging) in the NLCS and will face either the Cleveland Guardians or Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series. All three teams are in the bottom 12 in payroll, per FanGraphs.

The small market World Series matchup may force MLB to change its messaging a bit, but it won't end the league's salary cap pursuit. The owners have wanted a salary cap since the dawn of the sport to control costs and boost franchise values. The current sales pitch is "the only way to achieve competitive balance is to give us this thing we've always wanted." 

Rubenstein went on to acknowledge his failings with the Orioles. He purchased the team in March 2024. The O's were coming off a 101-win season in 2023 and won 91 games in 2024, but they have since slipped to 75 wins in 2025 and 79 in 2026. The rebuild has yet to yield much success.

MLB and the MLB Players Association have publicly traded proposals in the last several weeks. They could reach an agreement before Dec. 1. More likely, the owners will lock out the players for the second time in five years.