Does the MLB salary cap lessen competitiveness?

It does neither. No cap is great. If you look at the best team in baseball they are small market for baseball. The only problem is that small market teams have a tougher time keeping their star players. I expect the Rays to lose Crawford and Pena. Pena only because he's a Boras client and Boras will be unreasonable. But then that's where the farm system comes into play. That's really how the Braves stayed competitive through the mid-90s into 2000. Because after Ted Turner's interests were dissolved there was a bottom line for team. It became corporate.