hosting Inter Miami CF, the 2025 MLS Cup champions featuring world soccer legend Lionel Messi<\/a>, when he decided to interject a bit of baseball into the conversation.\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cI love sports and I watched my friend A-Rod with George Steinbrenner \u2013 we\u2019d sit in his box just the two of us,\u201d Trump said, looking at Alex Rodriguez who was seated to his left in the crowd. Rodriguez seemed to be at the White House for a different occasion, as Trump mentioned that he told him to come up for the MLS celebration.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe would never have anybody but me,\u201d Trump went on about the legendary\u00a0New York Yankees\u00a0owner in Steinbrenner. \u201cHe liked me, right? He liked me, he liked you. He liked almost nobody.\u201d<\/p>\n
President Trump speaks at an event to honor the 2025 Major League Soccer champions Inter Miami CF in the East Room of the White House on March 5, 2026, in Washington. AP<\/p>\n
Then, Trump took a shot at MLB today, a product he isn\u2019t fond of.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be a World Series when baseball was hot \u2013 it\u2019s not as hot now, I\u2019ll be honest with you. They do things wrong,\u201d Trump said, though not elaborating. \u201cBut when baseball was hot as a pistol, I\u2019d sit [with Steinbrenner] and I\u2019d watch the Yankees. They\u2019d have 30 seats, and it would just be me and him.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lack of explanation from Trump can only lead to speculation about why he doesn\u2019t like the sport today, but there are some debates about the game and how MLB runs its product.<\/p>\n
Trump with former Yankees\u2019 owner George Steinbrenner in Tampa, Florida, on Aug. 19, 1988. Getty Images<\/p>\n
Among them are big markets versus small markets, as payrolls continue to skyrocket without a salary cap. <\/p>\n
The Los Angeles Dodgers are the prime example, as their spending spree continued this offseason after defending their World Series title in a thrilling seven-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays last season.<\/p>\n
But while the Dodgers own the league\u2019s highest payroll ($396 million), the New York Mets ($368.66M), Yankees ($325.82M) and Philadelphia Phillies ($311.18M) are not too far behind. <\/p>\n
Trump preparing to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before the New York Yankees vs Boston Red Sox game at Fenway Park on Aug. 8, 2006. Sports Illustrated via Getty Images<\/p>\n
But when they go against teams like the Miami Marlins ($78.11M), Cleveland Guardians ($94.75M) and Washington Nationals ($102.41M), the talent gap can sometimes lead to lopsided games.\u00a0<\/p>\n
MLB has a critical year ahead, though, as that all could change if a salary cap is implemented in collective bargaining agreement negotiations. <\/p>\n
But it doesn\u2019t seem the MLB Players\u2019 Association wants a cap at all, which could lead to some tense negotiations and a potential lockout with the current CBA set to expire at the end of the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alex Rodriguez swings at the pitch against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on July 21, 2007 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City. Getty Images<\/p>\n
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred also visited the White House in April 2025, where he and Trump discussed issues pertaining to baseball. <\/p>\n
Manfred\u2019s arrival in the nation\u2019s capital came after Trump said he would pardon the late Pete Rose, MLB\u2019s all-time hits leader, while criticizing the league for barring him from the Hall of Fame due to gambling.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rose was posthumously removed from MLB\u2019s permanently ineligible list in May 2025, allowing him to be considered for the Hall of Fame.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before MLB kicks off its 2026 season, the World Baseball Classic will be held as games have already begun. <\/p>\n
Team USA, fielding one of its best rosters ever, will begin its tournament on Friday in Houston against Team Brazil.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The celebration revolved around a soccer team, but President\u00a0Donald Trump\u00a0was talking baseball at the White House on Thursday…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":636235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[12859,5229,69,1266,6656,405,403,2228,5226,5225,5228,5227,62,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-636234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-alex-rodriguez","tag-america","tag-donald-trump","tag-mlb","tag-mls","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116182046168646950","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=636234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/636235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=636234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=636234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=636234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}