CHICAGO — Right on schedule, notorious buzzkill Bud Selig is back to try to spoil your World Series experience.

Best known for canceling the 1994 World Series as interim MLB commissioner, Selig is again lobbying for a salary cap, 32 years after the players struck to avoid one, leading to the postseason he canceled.

Go figure.

The former Milwaukee Brewers owner, who was part of the ceremonial-first-pitch festivities Friday at Game 1 of the World Series, came out of moth balls at age 92 to talk with The Athletic about his beloved Brew Crew, who are taking on the Tampa Bay Rays.

Naturally, Selig is ecstatic, and the story generally paints him as a fine man and a significant baseball figure. The headline is “Bud Selig savors this Brewers World Series and says MLB needs a salary cap,” but it isn’t until about halfway through that Selig is asked about the upcoming labor dispute that’s virtually a lock to end up with an owners lockout.

“I try to stay away from this subject, but I will say this to you: We need a cap,” Selig said.

Shocking news — a 92-year-old man was sticking to a plan that led to his signature moment 32 years ago, even as that plan failed to result in the desired salary cap.

When Selig canceled the remainder of the season on Sept. 14, 1994, the Associated Press report began: “Bud Selig, a history major, has made himself history. His name forever will be linked with canceling the World Series.”

Being old means never having to admit you were wrong, and now Selig is back for seconds, helping his successor, Rob Manfred, spread the narrative that the game’s survival depends on a salary cap.

The article’s author, Tyler Kepner, pointed out to Selig that having two small-market teams in the World Series could suggest the system is working just fine. It’s an argument that’s easy to make with the Brewers and Rays beating two megabucks teams — the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees — on their way to the World Series.

But Selig was unconvinced.

“Would you really make that conclusion after (the) 44 years it took to win?” Selig said, referring to the Brewers’ pennant drought. “The Dodgers have spent money, like my favorite term: drunken sailor. I understand people can disagree, but I believe (a cap is) the right thing. But that’s for another day.”

“Fair enough,” Kepner concludes, changing the subject.

But that didn’t stop Selig from lobbying for a cap elsewhere, like he’s a spokesman for Manfred and the owners. He told Front Office Sports: “You have to make adjustments. The changes that (owners) are proposing are not only rational, they’re essential.”

Wait, we thought you didn’t want to talk about it?

What’s up, Bud?

A lockout seems inevitable, we’ve all heard for months. The only real question is probably how much of the 2027 season will be salvaged. Half a season? Another 60-game season like the pandemic-shortened 2020?

And whether you believe a salary cap is necessary, chances are you’d still like to enjoy this intriguing World Series matchup without thinking about the endless squabble between owners and players. A moratorium on discussing the labor dispute would seem like an easy ask for owners, players and former commissioners.

In case no one has informed Selig, it’s not really great public relations to remind fans about an impending lockout when you’re trying to promote the game in its greatest glory. People want to talk about the Miz, Junior Caminero and folksy manager Pat Murphy, not about payroll floors and ceiling.

What Selig didn’t bother saying in his interviews was the game has thrived in the 44 years since the Brewers’ last World Series, and all without a salary cap. Players and owners alike are making out like bandits. The San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Angels were recently sold for around $4 billion. If it’s not a viable system, just cash out and take your billions and let someone run your team.

Here’s a simple question for Selig: Could it be that the Brewers’ inability to get back to the World Series from 1982 until now was a combination of bad ownership, poor upper management and not enough talent?

Remember, Selig had complete control of the team for nearly three decades from 1970 to 1998 when he shed the interim title and became full-time commissioner. His daughter, Wendy Prieb-Selig, became president and CEO and served from then until 2002, when she resigned at the end of the worst season in franchise history.

Incoming general manager Doug Melvin, helped by revenue sharing, built the organization to respectability for a while before owner Mark Attanasio implemented changes in the mid-2010s, including the hiring of the hometown kid, Craig Counsell, as manager in early 2015.

GM David Stearns and Counsell made the Brewers contenders until both moved on — to New York and Chicago, respectively — for more money and resources. Current President Matt Arnold and Murphy finally got the team to this next step, and that’s why the Brewers are the talk of the sports world.

Selig, meanwhile, apparently is still living in the past, where memories can become hazy with the passage of time. He even told Kepner that former St. Louis manager Whitey Herzog said the Brewers would’ve beaten his Cardinals in that seven-game World Series in 1982 if Milwaukee closer Rollie Fingers wasn’t out with an injury.

“I finally convinced Whitey one night in Cooperstown, just the two of us,” Selig said. “Whitey admitted that if we had Rollie, ‘All right, you would have won.’ And we would have — but we didn’t.”

Herzog died in 2024, so we’ll have to take Selig’s word for it. Revisionist history is easy, but the Cardinals were the better team and won the last two games convincingly after trailing 3-2 in the series.

With the 2026 season ending in the next week or so, it’s time to savor the things that make baseball such a great game.

The only way to spoil it is by discussing its uncertain future.

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