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MLB Division Series Payrolls Breakdown

 Aaliyan Mohammed - World Baseball Network  |    Oct 6th, 2024 12:21pm EDT

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Not every contender is built the same. Major League Baseball is one of the only major sports leagues without a hard salary cap. This means teams in big markets can exceed a threshold set by the league and simply pay a luxury tax. The 2024 MLB luxury tax threshold was set at $237 million. Here’s how the current MLB playoff teams stack up in payroll based on USA TODAY’s salary report from the start of the season.

New York Mets: $305,624,274 payroll

1. Francisco Lindor – $32.5 million 
2. Starling Marte – $20.8 million 
3. Pete Alonso – $20.5 million 
4. Brandon Nimmo – $20.5 million 
5. Edwin Díaz – $18.3 million 

New York Yankees- $303,322,047 payroll 

1. Aaron Judge – $40 million 
2. Gerrit Cole – $36 million 
3. Giancarlo Stanton – $32 million 
4. Juan Soto – $31 million 
5. Carlos Rodon – $27.8 million 

Los Angeles Dodgers – $249,823,654 payroll

1. Shohei Ohtani – $70 million 
2. Mookie Betts – $26.2 million 
3. Freddie Freeman – $25.1 million 
4. Teoscar Hernández – $23.5 million 
5. Tyler Glasnow – $15 million 

Philadelphia Phillies – $243,476,617 payroll 

1. Bryce Harper – $27.5 million 
2. Trea Turner – $27.3 million 
3. Aaron Nola – $24.6 million 
4. JT Realmuto – $23.9 million 
5. Zack Wheeler – $23.5 million 

San Diego Padres- $161,937,554 payroll 

1. Xander Bogaerts – $25.5 million 
2. Joe Musgrove – $20 million 
3. Manny Machado – $17.1 million 
4. Yu Darvish – $16 million 
5. Fernando Tatis Jr. $11.7 million

Kansas City Royals – $115,257,261 payroll 

1. Salvador Pérez – $20 million 
2. Michael Wacha – $16 million 
3. Seth Lugo – $15 million 
4. Jordan Lyles – $8.5 million*
5. Hunter Renfroe – $5.5 million

Detroit Tigers – $103,834,833 

1. Javier Báez – $25 million
2. Jack Flaherty $14 million*
3. Kenta Maeda – $14 million 
4. Mark Canha – $11.5 million*
5. Andrew Chafin – $4.3 million*

Cleveland Guardians − $93,333,629 

1. José Ramírez – $17 million 
2. Shane Bieber – $13.3 million 
3. Scott Barlow – $6.7 million*
4. Josh Naylor – $6.6 million 
5. Andrés Giménez – $5.6 million 

* indicates player is no longer on the team. 

Notes 

• Three of the Tigers’ most costly players from Opening Day are no longer with the team in Jack Flaherty, Mark Canha, and Andrew Chafin. 

• Shohei Ohtani counts for more against the Dodgers payroll than the entire Oakland Athletics payroll of $60.5 million. 

• The Mets have three times the payroll of the Detroit Tigers, and both teams will be playing in the Division Series round of the postseason. 

• Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman would not even crack the top five of highest paid players on the Yankee’s payroll in 2024. 

• Javier Báez makes more money than any player on the Guardians and has not played since August. 

• Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge and Gerrit Cole are the only players to have top 10 salaries in baseball remaining in the postseason. 
• The four teams with the highest payrolls in the entire MLB are all playing in the Division Series 

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WBN MLB: https://worldbaseball.com/league/mlb/

Photo Credit: A view of the MLB postseason 2024 logo prior to Game One of the Division Series between the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field on October 05, 2024 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)