Major League Baseball’s latest labor battle began in earnest three weeks ago as the sides delivered their opening economic proposals in New York City. The league proposed a salary cap-and-floor system. The Major League Baseball Players Association reiterated players’ longstanding opposition to a cap — a stance that three decades ago led to a 232-day strike.The discord has left fans in an uncomfortable position: trying to enjoy a summer of baseball while fearing next season could be in jeopardy.We received 8,500 responses to our fan survey about the MLB-MLBPA labor negotiations. A pattern that emerged was that while many believe the league lacks competitive balance, there isn’t consensus support for the league’s solution of a hard cap.The median fan’s position was perhaps best illustrated by a Cincinnati Reds fan who completed the survey as the team — with a payroll projected by FanGraphs at $128 million — faced two big-market behemoths in the same week: New York’s Mets ($369 million payroll) and Yankees ($308 million).The Reds fan believes MLB’s payroll disparity has created an unfair fight, yet they primarily blame that disparity on the owners who spend too little. They want a salary cap-and-floor system but prefer one that, unlike MLB’s hard-cap proposal, merely taxes teams that spend above or below the prescribed range.This fan feels their favorite team should spend more. They are under no illusion that a cap system would make consuming baseball cheaper for fans, but they hope it would lead to more teams in contention and more small-market teams retaining homegrown stars. They expect MLB to miss games in 2027 due to a lockout; if that occurs, they’d primarily blame the owners.All of these were the top responses to different questions in our fan survey. But there’s much more to cover. Below are the results, with some representative reader responses listed for each question. To the charts!Reader submissions have been lightly edited for clarity.It’s no mystery why MLB owners chose these collective bargaining agreement negotiations to seriously push for a salary cap for the first time since the 1994 strike. As the league’s payroll divide widens and the Dodgers dynasty continues, fans have grown frustrated.In early negotiations, the league has leaned upon fan sentiment to strengthen its argument for a cap, citing fans’ concerns about competitive balance. Responses to this survey question reflect that: Nearly 75 percent of fans agree, to some degree, that the payroll disparity has created an unfair fight.But who is responsible for that disparity?And how should it be solved?Those questions are next.Cardinals fan (Somewhat agree): It is unfair to the fans, but every owner is perfectly capable of raising payroll, so it’s not necessarily an unfair system, just an unequal one.Diamondbacks fan (Strongly agree): Large-market teams already have a competitive advantage in being able to draw in top talent and, with no real payroll restriction, the disparity between the haves and the have-nots only grows larger.Braves fan (Strongly agree): It starts with media revenue disparity. This can and should be fixed by the owners.This answer is far less likely to be trumpeted by the league office.Three-quarters of participants blamed MLB owners for the league’s growing spending gap, and nearly 60 percent specifically blamed low-spending owners. Not Steve Cohen, Mark Walter or Hal Steinbrenner. More like Jerry Reinsdorf, Bruce Sherman and Paul Dolan.This wasn’t a case of the sample being spoiled by big-market voters bagging on small-market owners, either. Among participants whose favorite team currently carries a bottom-10 payroll — the Marlins, Guardians, Rays, White Sox, Athletics, Nationals, Cardinals, Pirates, Twins and Rockies — low-spending owners again took far more blame (49.1 percent) than high-spending owners (16.8 percent) or players (28.5 percent).Rangers fan (The owners who spend too little): ​​Owners that don’t spend money on players to be competitive shouldn’t own a team.Marlins fan (The owners who spend too little): Owners should treat a sports franchise like a hobby. It's going to cost them money. If you're not rich enough to compete, don't buy a team.Brewers fan (The owners who spend too much): It’s a mixed bag. There are definitely owners who could spend more. But some are willing to push their revenue advantage to the extreme.