It seems like a simple equation: $338 million produces 100.
That’s the Dodgers season-ending payroll and victory total. But to assume a franchise can merely buy a playoff berth is a stretch.
The New York Mets sit at home — or more likely at lavish vacation destinations, given their perch at the top of baseball’s payrolls at $345.8 million. They finished last in the National League East with a 74-88 record.
The Cleveland Guardians also sit at home, but are quite pleased about it. They earned a first-round bye and berth in the American League Division Series this weekend despite a payroll of only $74.2 million — baseball’s lowest and barely one-fifth that of the Mets.
Twelve of the 30 MLB teams qualified for the postseason, with four best-of-three Wild Card Series beginning Tuesday. Eight of the dozen have payrolls in the top 10, with the defending AL champion Toronto Blue Jays joining the Mets as supreme underachievers given their No. 5-ranked payroll of $275.4 million.
Yet three playoff teams — the Tampa Bay Rays ($98.3 million) and Chicago White Sox ($98 million), in addition to the Guardians — rank among the six lowest payrolls, according to MLB Labor Relations Department’s (LRD) present-day salary calculations obtained by USA Today.
The combined LRD payrolls of those three overachievers don’t come close to the Mets or Dodgers, highlighting the enormous disparity between the haves and have-nots that team owners point to while demanding a salary cap during ongoing collective bargaining negotiations.
Oddly, only one playoff qualifier is among the 14 mid-range payrolls of roughly $100 million to $200 million — the Milwaukee Brewers, who achieved baseball’s best record at 103-59 while paying its roster $143.5 million. The Angels are also among that group, ranking No. 15 at $179.8, not enough to keep them from losing 100 games for the first time in franchise history.
The LRD payroll tracks a team’s real-time salary commitments for the current season, accounting for the 26-man MLB roster’s base salaries plus a prorated portion of signing bonuses. LRD differs from luxury tax payrolls, which are based on the average annual value of every player contract on the 40-man roster.
Luxury tax payrolls determine whether a team exceeds the league’s luxury tax threshold and owes financial penalties. MLB is using luxury tax payrolls in the CBA negotiations over a hard salary cap and floor, proposing a $245.3 million ceiling and $171.2 million floor for 2027.
Luxury tax penalties from clubs that exceed the thresholds funnel back to low-revenue clubs through revenue sharing. A record $402,637,907 was paid in luxury tax penalties last season, with the Dodgers paying the most at a record $169.4 million. This year the Dodgers’ luxury tax is projected at $180 million — higher than the LRD payroll of 16 teams.
The Dodgers also have the highest luxury tax payroll at $430 million, dwarfing the Mets’ $363 million number. Reasons? The Dodgers pay more in penalties because they have exceeded the luxury tax six years in a row, they have more players with massive average annual values and they took on additional penalties by acquiring starter Tarik Skubal at the trade deadline.
MLB 2026 payrolls (playoff teams in bold)
1. New York Mets: $346.8 million
2. Dodgers: $338.0 million
3. New York Yankees: $304.6 million
4. Philadelphia Phillies: $291.7 million
5. Toronto Blue Jays: $275.4 million
6. Atlanta Braves: $263.9 million
7. Houston Astros: $249.5 million
8. Chicago Cubs: $248.8 million
9. San Diego Padres: $223.9 million
10. Boston Red Sox: $210.2 million
11. Detroit Tigers: $202.1 million
12. San Francisco Giants: $197.6 million
13. Arizona Diamondbacks: $192.8 million
14. Texas Rangers: $192.5 million
15. Angels: $179.8 million
16. Seattle Mariners: $170.5 million
17. Baltimore Orioles: $169.2 million
18. Kansas City Royals: $149.8 million
19. Milwaukee Brewers: $143.5 million
20. Cincinnati Reds: $128.3 million
21. Colorado Rockies: $117.0 million
22. Minnesota Twins: $109.5 million
23. Pittsburgh Pirates: $107.6 million
24. Athletics: $98.7 million
25. Tampa Bay Rays: $98.3 million
26. Chicago White Sox: $98.0 million
27. St. Louis Cardinals: $94.7 million
28. Washington Nationals: $90.3 million
29. Miami Marlins: $83.0 million
30. Cleveland Guardians: $74.2 million
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: latimes.com
