In a normal year, most MLB teams would already be looking toward next year at this point in the season, as only a few teams remain alive. But what does next season even look like?
Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association are all but guaranteed to have a lockout beginning Dec. 1 , as both sides have diametrically opposed positions on a salary cap. The owners are pushing hard to implement a salary cap, while the players are vehemently opposed.
World Series champion Nick Swisher said that games could “absolutely” be missed next season due to a stalemate between the two sides.
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Nick Swisher tees off during the Capital One MLB Open at Shadow Creek Golf Course in North Las Vegas, Nev., on Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (Lucas Peltier/MLB Photos via Getty Images))
“Absolutely, because just like yourself as me, is all of a sudden, you hear the players association speaking this language and the commissioner’s office is speaking this language. I immediately knew out of the gate. Plus, just knowing a little bit more under the hood about the last couple of collective bargaining agreements, right?” Swisher told OutKick in a recent interview.
The former New York Yankees star noted that Tony Clark is no longer the head of the MLBPA after resigning in February and that Bruce Meyer, who took over for Clark, will want everyone to know how he does business. Swisher said he hopes both sides go to the negotiating table in good faith.
“When you get people going to the negotiation table, you’re hoping that everyone’s trying to go to negotiate a fair deal. You’re hoping that both sides aren’t trying to go to the negotiation table to win. Because if that’s the case, we’re in a lot of trouble. Because we’re really, really far apart from each other right now, and the last thing we wanna do is slow this train down,” Swisher said.
Swisher said baseball is “absolutely crushing” right now, with revenue and attendance both up, going so far as to say that the game has never been in a better place. Yet, having spent 12 seasons in the big leagues, he understands just how tough the union is.
“Pretty much all other sports are very salary cap-based, and that’s kind of been the one thing for the players association and the players union. It’s one of the strongest unions in the world for a reason, because they stand up for each other. And I was part of that before. I know the bond, I know the brothership, and, listen, it’s a tough union,” Swisher said.
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Nick Swisher and Tino Martinez pose for a photo during New York Yankees Old-Timers’ Day before a game against the Atlanta Braves at Yankee Stadium in New York on Aug. 8, 2026. (New York Yankees/Getty Images)
Swisher, like the rest of the baseball world, hopes the two sides can reach an agreement before any games are lost .
“I think at the end of the day, man, I’m praying that everything gets itself back on track come the end of the season because I wouldn’t wanna slow this train down, man. It’s moving too fast right now and we got too many things going on well in our game to be slowing it down right now,” Swisher said.
BASEBALL OR BABY?
During the Division Series, two prominent players were forced to make an impossible decision: Miss their child’s birth or leave their team during the postseason to attend the milestone event?
About an hour before the San Diego Padres faced the Milwaukee Brewers with their season on the line, All-Star closer Mason Miller went on the paternity list to attend the birth of his child. The Padres won Game 3 and staved off elimination in his absence.
New York Yankees starting pitcher Max Fried, on the other hand, said that despite his girlfriend being ready to give birth at any moment, he would pitch in Game 3 no matter what. The Yankees lost the game, so Fried is now free to support his girlfriend for the foreseeable future.
Swisher, a father of two children , said he was fortunate to avoid the dilemma Miller and Fried faced .
“I was very blessed that I had one child that was born at the beginning of the season and one child that was born in the middle of the season. So, I didn’t get presented with this situation where both of these individuals are put in,” Swisher said.
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Nick Swisher is introduced during the New York Yankees Old-Timers’ Day before a game against the Atlanta Braves at Yankee Stadium on Aug. 8, 2026, in New York, N.Y. (New York Yankees/Getty Images)
“It’s hard for me to say that as a father now of two beautiful young girls that I wouldn’t want to be there for the birth of my daughter. But once again, I was never put in that position.”
Having played in numerous postseason games, the former All-Star outfielder said it would have been difficult to miss those opportunities .
“At the end of the day, I will tell you this, it’s not as often as you think that you get to compete for championships. And for myself, I played in a bunch of playoff games, and we had one great championship run. And it would be really hard for me also to say that I missed out on any of that as well,” Swisher said.
While it would be difficult to miss a postseason game, the 45-year-old said he couldn’t reconcile missing the birth of one of his children.
“For myself, at the end of the day, I’ve never been presented with something like that, so, I really wouldn’t even know how to answer that because if I missed the birth of my daughters, either one of them. I feel like that would always bother me,” Swisher said.
“That would, I would just like – I wasn’t there for you. And as a father, that’s the one thing that you wanna do is you always wanna be there for your children. So, I can’t blame Mason, I can’t blame Max.”
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Nick Swisher looks on during the MLBx event at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, N.C., on Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (Ainsley Fauth/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
RECOGNIZING THE UNSUNG HEROES
While fans see the players on the field and managers making lineup and bullpen decisions, much more goes into running a team behind the scenes .
Swisher praised Yankees equipment manager Rob Cucuzza and the entire clubhouse staff for their work.
“At the end of the day, I think the unsung heroes are the clubhouse guys, right? The clubhouse, you know, people that, that clean our underwear, right? That wash our jerseys, right, that are up at 4 o’clock in the morning, just unpacking our bags, getting ourselves ready for the next day’s worth of work,” Swisher, who spoke on behalf of PAYDAY to highlight the low-key legends who helped shape his career, said.
“If you don’t have those people, if you don’t have the engine of your organization, you’re not gonna be any good. And the fact that we are so blessed to have someone in New York who does that, who does just that, has an amazing job.”