Money talks. In Major League Baseball, it usually screams. But if you look at the MLB team salaries 2025 figures that just got finalized by the league office, you’ll see that some teams are basically lighting cash on fire while others are playing 4D chess with a thrift-store budget.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are currently the center of the baseball universe. It's not just that they won. It's how much they paid to make sure they won. In 2025, the Dodgers became the first team to push a combined payroll and tax bill north of $586 million. That’s not a typo. To put that in perspective, the Dodgers' luxury tax penalty alone—about $169.4 million—is higher than the entire payroll of 18 other MLB teams.
But honestly, the real story isn't just the Dodgers' dominance. It's the absolute chaos of the middle class and the teams that spent big only to end up watching the playoffs from their couches.
The 2025 Payroll Hierarchy: Who Spent the Most?
When the Competitive Balance Tax (CBT) numbers were finalized in December 2025, nine teams found themselves writing massive checks to the league for exceeding the $241 million threshold. You've got the usual suspects, but the gaps between the top and the bottom are getting kinda ridiculous.
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The New York Mets, led by Steve Cohen, didn't hold back. Even after a rough 2025 season where they missed the playoffs entirely, their CBT payroll sat at a staggering $346.7 million. They paid $91.6 million in taxes. Cohen recently tweeted that he doesn't see the payroll dropping anytime soon, which is basically music to the ears of every high-end free agent but a nightmare for Mets fans waiting for a "sustainable" winner.
Here is how the top of the mountain looked for the 2025 season in terms of finalized CBT payroll:
The Dodgers led the pack at $417 million. Following them, the Mets hit $347 million, the Yankees reached $320 million, and the Phillies rounded out the "Big Four" at $314 million. These four teams were the only ones to cross the $300 million mark. Further down, you had the Blue Jays ($286 million), Padres ($255 million), and Red Sox ($249 million).
The Yankees and Phillies actually got some ROI on their spending, both making deep runs. The Blue Jays, surprisingly, sat near the top of the AL East with a $286 million payroll, showing that sometimes the "all-in" move actually works.
Why the Luxury Tax Threshold Matters
The base threshold for 2025 was $241 million. If you go over that, the league hits you with a tax that scales based on how many years in a row you’ve been a "repeater."
- 1st Year: 20% tax on the overage.
- 2nd Year: 30% tax.
- 3rd Year+: 50% tax.
The Dodgers, Mets, Yankees, and Phillies are all in that "3rd Year+" bucket. That’s why the Dodgers' tax bill was so astronomical. They aren't just paying for 2025; they're paying for a decade of high-velocity spending.
The Juan Soto Effect and the 2025 Market
You can't talk about MLB team salaries 2025 without talking about the contract that broke the internet. Juan Soto signed a 15-year, $765 million deal with the Mets. It is the largest contract in the history of professional sports.
Soto's deal carries an Average Annual Value (AAV) of about $51 million. When you add that to the Mets' existing books, it's easy to see why they’re hovering around $350 million. But Soto wasn't the only one moving the needle.
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The Dodgers added Edwin Díaz on a three-year, $69 million deal—the highest AAV ever for a reliever. They also had Shohei Ohtani’s unique deal on the books. While Ohtani only takes $2 million in actual cash each year (with $68 million deferred), his "tax value" or CBT hit is roughly **$46 million** per year.
The "Moneyball" Teams of 2025
On the flip side, look at the Miami Marlins and Chicago White Sox. The Marlins finished the year with a CBT payroll of just $87 million. The White Sox were right there at $92 million.
The wild part? The Cleveland Guardians and Milwaukee Brewers.
The Guardians spent about $128 million (24th in the league) but still managed to win the AL Central. The Brewers spent $143 million and won the NL Central.
Basically, the Brewers and Guardians are outperforming teams like the Braves and Giants while spending $70–$100 million less. It makes you wonder if the "spend at all costs" strategy is starting to see diminishing returns for anyone not named the Dodgers.
Efficiency Winners
- Cleveland Guardians: $128M payroll, Division Title.
- Milwaukee Brewers: $143M payroll, Division Title.
- Detroit Tigers: $155M payroll, Playoff Berth.
Compare that to the Atlanta Braves. They spent over $214 million and had a "stunning failure" of a campaign, finishing 26th in MLB overall. Injury bugs don't care about your bank account.
Looking Ahead to 2026
The tax threshold is moving up to $244 million for the 2026 season. This is the final year of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), so expect some weirdness.
We’re already seeing massive ripples. Kyle Tucker just signed a four-year, $240 million deal with the Dodgers (because apparently, they didn't have enough stars). Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is looking at a projected $500 million extension with the Blue Jays. The market is inflating faster than we can track it.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Analysts
If you're trying to figure out where your team stands, don't just look at the "Active Payroll." That number is usually fake. It doesn't include the "benefits" ($17.5M), the pre-arb bonus pool ($1.6M), or the minor league salaries ($2.5M) that every team has to account for in their CBT total.
- Check the CBT Rank: This is the real number owners care about because it dictates the tax.
- Watch the "Repeater" Status: If a team like the Braves or Cubs dips below the tax line for one year, their penalty resets to 20%. This often explains why a big-market team suddenly stops spending for a winter—they're "resetting" their tax clock.
- Factor in Deferrals: Contracts like Ohtani's and Soto's use massive deferrals to lower the "present value" of the deal, which helps slightly with the luxury tax but creates a massive bill for the team 10-15 years down the road.
The 2025 season proved that while money can buy you a seat at the table, it can’t buy a clubhouse culture or health. As we move into 2026, keep an eye on the "reset" teams like the Giants and Braves. They've cleared their tax penalties and are primed to jump back into the deep end of the free-agent pool.