Dodgers' latest title comes with staggering luxury-tax bill

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Los Angeles Dodgers' latest World Series championship comes with staggering luxury-tax bill, nearly doubles next-highest team

By Adam Gretz | Last updated Dec 20, 2025 3:20 AM ET

The Los Angeles Dodgers have become the best team in baseball thanks to a nearly unbeatable combination of superb player development, strong scouting and unmatched spending. All of that produced another World Series championship in 2025 with a classic seven-game series win over the Toronto Blue Jays.

It was costly.

Very costly.

Not just in terms of payroll, but also their luxury-tax bill.

Dodgers hit with record luxury-tax payment

The Dodgers had to pay a record $169 million in luxury-tax payments this season, nearly double what the next-highest team had to pay.

The New York Mets were second at $91 million, while the New York Yankees had to pay $61 million.

The final CBT payrolls with the Dodgers paying record taxes pic.twitter.com/W8B78F3Mkt
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) December 19, 2025

Not only is that a record tax for the Dodgers, but it is also more than 12 teams spent on their total baseball payroll for the 2025 season.

The Dodgers' spending has made them a focus of scrutiny and criticism for helping to further the divide between the top and bottom teams in the league. They have become what the New York Yankees used to be during the height of the George Steinbrenner era.

It is understandable why smaller-market teams and fans would be have that frustration, but as long as Major League Baseball has no salary-cap system in place, the Dodgers are not doing anything wrong. In fact, they are doing what most fans would want their teams to do. Spend as much as possible to build the best possible team. They do. It works. Even if it is expensive.

Adam Gretz

Adam Gretz is a freelance writer based in Pittsburgh. He covers the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA. Baseball is his favorite sport -- he is nearly halfway through his goal of seeing a game in every MLB ballpark. Catch him on Twitter @AGretz

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