The Los Angeles Dodgers won their second World Series in as many years in 2025, and found themselves as the topic of debate across both seasons.
In both 2024 and 2025, the Dodgers had the highest tax payroll in MLB, serving as the only team above $350 million in both seasons. Their dominance over the past couple years has fans calling for a salary cap to limit the top teams’ spending, and manager Dave Roberts revealed his thoughts on the matter on Amazon Prime’s “Good Sports” with Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson.
“You know what? I’m alright with that,” Roberts said. “I think the NBA has done a nice job of revenue sharing with the players and the owners.”
“But if you’re going to suppress spending at the top, you got to raise the floor to make those bottom feeders spend money too.”
The Dodgers had a tax payroll of $416 million in 2025, with the next closest team being the New York Mets at $341 million. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Miami Marlins sat at the bottom of the league with an $85 million tax payroll.
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15 of the other 29 teams in the league had a tax payroll less than half of the Dodgers’.
In the NBA, a league which has both a floor and a cap in place, the disparity is much smaller. The Cleveland Cavaliers lead NBA with a salary of $228 million, and the team with the lowest salary is still more than half of their total.
If a salary cap or floor were to be integrated, it wouldn’t be until after the 2026 season, when MLB’s collective bargaining agreement expires, and if negotiations drag on too long following winter meeting that season, a lockout could ensue.
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Before then, though, the Dodgers will look to make use of their high payroll and win a third consecutive World Series, something which hasn’t been done since 2000.
Photo Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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