Payroll Power: How Spending Tells the Story of Baseball Success
October baseball is one of the best times on the sports calendar. This year, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays proved exactly why. In a nail-biting seventh game of the World Series, the Dodgers defeated the Blue Jays in 11 innings to capture their second straight championship, solidifying their reputation as baseball’s powerhouse.
The Dodgers entered this battle bursting with star power and a heavy player payroll. According to Spotrac, the Dodgers spent a whopping $350+ million. For context, the lowest payroll in the MLB belongs to the Miami Marlins who spent $67 million. The Marlins finished with 79 wins and 83 losses, while the Dodgers finished with 93 wins and only 69 losses.
That gap isn’t just a statistic, rather it’s actively shaping the way the game is played and won. Each MLB team plays 162 regular season games, meaning real star power comes to light in the postseason, when you’ve already played over 1,400 innings of baseball. Given how often the highest-payroll teams reach and succeed in the playoffs, it raises the familiar question: does the MLB need a salary cap?
How MLB’s Payroll System Works
Unlike the NFL or NBA, Major League Baseball does not have a hard salary cap. Instead teams face a “Luxury Tax”—or the “Competitive Balance Tax”—which penalizes teams for spending over a threshold but doesn’t prevent them from spending. If a team goes over the line, they pay a penalty. That means big-market teams can still outspend everyone else if they accept the cost. Smaller-market teams often cannot. In 2025, that threshold is $241 million.
The crucial point is that the tax does not stop anyone from spending. It simply makes it more expensive.
This structure has created what some describe as a “soft cap” — because it’s not one that meaningfully limits the wealthiest teams. It’s how the Dodgers assembled a roster that includes Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, while other teams have to rely more on careful scouting, player development, and good team culture to stay competitive in the league.
The Numbers Behind This October
This postseason is a perfect case study. Four teams: The Los Angeles Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays, Milwaukee Brewers, and Seattle Mariners, all reached the National and American League Championship Series (NLCS and ALCS) with very different payrolls.
Despite impressive runs by the Brewers and Mariners, it was the top two spenders that advanced to the World Series. This trend goes deeper than just this year. Nine of the last ten World Series champions ranked in the top 10 highest payrolls.
| Year | Winner | Payroll Rank |
| 2025 | Dodgers | 1st |
| 2024 | Dodgers | 3rd |
| 2023 | Rangers | 4th |
| 2022 | Astros | 8th |
| 2021 | Braves | 10th |
| 2020 | Dodgers | 1st |
| 2019 | Nationals | 7th |
| 2018 | Red Sox | 1st |
| 2017 | Astros | 17th |
| 2016 | Cubs | 5th |
The Salary Cap Debate
The idea of a salary cap in Major League Baseball has always been a contentious topic. Since the 1994 players’ strike, both owners and the players’ union have ignored it in labor negotiations. But as the gap between rich and poor clubs grows, that silence is breaking. The current basic agreement between MLB and the players’ union expires on December 1, 2026, and the debate is heating up once again.
“The only way to fix baseball is to do a salary cap and a floor,” Dick Monfort, owner of the Colorado Rockies (a low payroll team who had the worst 2025 record) and chair of MLB’s labor committee said during the most recent round of basic-agreement negotiations. David Rubenstein, owner of the Baltimore Orioles, states that he wishes the MLB had a salary cap the way other sports do, and that at least a “larger discussion needs to happen to close the gap between big-market and smaller-market teams.” However, not everyone involved in the MLB agrees with this sentiment. Phillie’s star Bryce Harper told MLB commissioner Rob Manfred in July “If you want to speak about that, you can get the fuck out of our clubhouse,” during the annual meeting between Manfred and the Phillies.
However, there is one fact that cannot be ignored: spending does not always automatically bring success. Some of the highest-paying squads still failed to not only deliver, but even to make it to October, such as the Mets and the Giants, both teams in the top 10 of spenders. The Mets were actually the second highest spender, but as a Mets fan we don’t have to dwell on their failure too much.
The Future of Baseball
The World Series isn’t just where a champion is crowned. It’s where everything about the sport: power, money, talent, and who gets to win, all come into focus.
After clinching the National League pennant, Dodger’s manager Dave Roberts told the crowd, “Before this season started, they said the Dodgers are running baseball. Let’s get four more wins and really ruin baseball!” This wasn’t just a celebration, but also a statement, a clap back at what a lot of people have been thinking. The team with the league’s highest payroll knows exactly how the rest of baseball sees them, and they’re not necessarily running from it.
In a lot of ways, it’s the same kind of energy that comes with building a dynasty. The Chicago Bulls in the 1990s won two separate three-peats with Michael Jordan, the New England Patriots with six Super Bowls and 17 AFC East titles in 19 years with Tom Brady, the “Core Four” won four World Series titles in five years for the New York Yankees in the late 90s. Those are all teams everyone loved to hate because they didn’t just win, but their winning eventually felt inevitable. The Dodgers are stepping into that same spotlight. In game four of the NLCS, Shohei Ohtani delivered one of the most dominant baseball performances ever with three home runs while simultaneously striking out ten batters. It was a moment that didn’t just push the Dodgers closer to another title — it made it feel like the start of a dynasty.
If history tells us anything, dynasties don’t just win games. They bend the league around them. Maybe it’s the lack of a salary cap. Maybe the Dodgers are just that good. But a $60 million team going up against a $350 million one is a gap you can’t ignore forever, even if not every high spending team is getting the results they want. That gap is just too large, and eventually, something’s got to give.
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