What is the one at-bat we could see in this series that would most signify the big-spending ways of both teams?
Despite carrying similar payrolls over the past five seasons, why have the Dodgers had more on-field success than the Mets?
Why are the Dodgers and Mets able to spend at a level so far above the rest of the league?
Carson Benge makes a spectacular catch for the Mets (0:28)New York Mets (New York Mets) with a Spectacular Fielding Action Athletics, 04/12/2026 (0:28)
The most expensive series in MLB history begins Monday night when the New York Mets, carrying a $375 million-plus CBT payroll, visit the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have an MLB-high $413.5 million CBT payroll this season.
When you factor in the competitive balance tax both teams are paying this year, the total player expenditure for the 2026 season jumps to more than $1.07 billion.
As the two biggest spenders the sport has ever seen square off, we break down how their outsized payrolls compare to the rest of MLB and how their financial might will be on display this week. (Payroll numbers from Spotrac’s MLB salary database)
You also have vast differences in ballpark revenue. The Dodgers easily led MLB in attendance in 2025, averaging over 49,500 fans per game. The Mets ranked fifth, averaging over 39,000 per game. Meanwhile, five teams averaged under 20,000 fans per game while four others were under 25,000. The advantages of playing in a bigger market extend beyond local media revenue.
Unlike the Dodgers, the Mets don’t own their television network (the Wilpons remain majority owners of SNY), they don’t boast a robust revenue stream from another country, and they don’t sell out every night. But Cohen’s plan for a casino and resort next to Citi Field appears likely after a yearslong battle, potentially giving the billionaire a lucrative moneymaker. Cohen will likely keep spending on his baseball team. Whether on-field success ever follows remains to be seen. — Jorge Castillo
The Mets are getting better in all of these areas, but true organizational excellence takes time and consistency. Check back in a couple of years, when David Stearns has had time to unfurl a full organizational overhaul, and the gap is bound to be smaller. — Jeff Passan
In the Dodgers’ case, don’t underestimate the impact that Shohei Ohtani alone has on the bottom line. When they won the 2020 World Series, the Dodgers were fifth in competitive balance tax payroll. In 2023, the year before they signed Ohtani, they were fourth. That number climbed from $268 million in 2023 to $417 million in 2025. Put it this way: With the revenue Ohtani generates, any team could have afforded to sign, although the Dodgers have certainly leveraged his value better than any other team could have.
In the Mets’ case, you have an owner in Steve Cohen who wants to win — and has been willing to spend big in an attempt to do that. Cohen bought the team after the 2020 season from the Wilpon family. Under the Wilpons, the Mets never cracked the top 10 in payroll from 2012 to 2019, ranking as low as 27th in 2014 — and made the playoffs just twice in those years. Under Cohen, the Mets have ranked first or second in payroll each year since 2022. The big contract for Juan Soto last year paid immediate dividends at the gate: Attendance jumped to 3.18 million, up from 2.33 million in 2024. Like the Dodgers, the Mets are willing to spend money to make money — which many other teams are reluctant to do, even if they can afford such risks. — David Schoenfield
Aiding this gradual climb of revenue and payroll has been the Dodgers’ comprehensive domination of baseball processes. Through all of their success and the lower draft picks that come with it, they continue to feature a fecund farm system that allows them to plug in-season holes and pull off trades for players like Mookie Betts. The expectation of winning and the culture the Dodgers have created is a magnet for top talent. All of these things iterate with each season, making each factor tilt even more in the Dodgers’ favor. This is how dynasties come to be. — Bradford Doolittle
It starts and ends with Steve Cohen. The hedge fund billionaire became the wealthiest owner in Major League Baseball when he bought the Mets from the Wilpons for $2.4 billion in November 2020. He is worth over $20 billion according to recent estimates and he has not hesitated to invest piles of cash into the organization. The Mets’ payroll jumped from $158.7 million in 2019, the 12th-highest in the majors, to $330.7 million by 2023, the highest in baseball. The Mets have operated at a loss for most of Cohen’s stewardship, but that hasn’t stopped him from spending even though the Mets have yet to win an NL East title and have reached the postseason only twice in his first five seasons. Cohen desperately wants to win the franchise’s first World Series since 1986 and he’s spending whatever he believes is necessary — not just on payroll but on infrastructure and employees — to make it happen.
Here’s the one that jumps out (with Soto sidelined): Kyle Tucker versus Sean Manaea. Tucker’s four-year, $240 million contract with the Dodgers created an uproar in the baseball world, with many predicting that contract will be the one everyone cites when there is a likely lockout after the season. Not that Tucker isn’t a good player; he is. But how many teams could afford this kind of deal? He’s not a marquee player like Ohtani, Yamamoto, Freddie Freeman or Mookie Betts. But the Dodgers saw it as signing an All-Star player for minimal risk, since the deal is only four years, even if the average annual salary makes Tucker the highest-paid player in 2026. Other teams saw it as a sign of the apocalypse to make him the highest-paid player.
Manaea’s contract, meanwhile, symbolizes the Mets’ gluttonous payroll that hasn’t produced the same level of success. Manaea had been a below-replacement-level pitcher in 2022 and 2023 but then had a good season for the Mets in 2024, helping them reach the NLCS. The Mets re-signed him to a three-year, $75 million contract as a free agent. He then had a bad 2025, going 2-4 with a 5.64 ERA, and is pitching out of the bullpen so far in 2026, making him the most expensive middle reliever in the game.
Since Andrew Friedman took over baseball operations in October 2014, the Dodgers have built an infrastructure that is the envy of teams around the league. It’s not just the size of their staff that overwhelms opponents. It’s the quality. They scout exceptionally well, domestically and internationally. Their player-development system consistently churns out high-quality major league talent. Their analytics and player-performance departments identify areas of improvement and craft well-considered plans.
The Dodgers’ 2026 CBT payroll is more than the bottom four spenders (White Sox, Rays, Guardians and Marlins) combined while the Mets total payroll is more than Chicago, Cleveland and Tampa Bay combined.
The Dodgers’ 2026 estimated tax bill of $161.9 million is higher than 12 teams’ total tax payrolls this season while the Mets’ $120 million tax bill is higher than six teams’ tax payrolls.
The combined 2026 salaries of the four players with the highest AAV (average annual value) on the Dodgers and Mets (Juan Soto, Shohei Ohtani, Kyle Tucker and Bo Bichette) is more than the total payroll of 14 teams and within $400,000 of the Seattle Mariners.
The New York Yankees are the only team besides the Mets with a payroll within $100 million of the Dodgers this season. The Phillies rank fourth in the sport at $312.7 million, which is $100.8 million shy of L.A.
Last year’s meeting between the Mets and Dodgers was the previous most expensive series at $764 million in combined payroll — $36 million in total payroll behind this year’s matchup. When you add in their tax bills, the total jumps to over $1.07 billion, surpassing last year’s record of $1.025 billion
The Dodgers and Mets have ranked first and second (in some order) in total payroll four times since 2022. 2023, when the Mets ranked first and the Dodgers fourth, is the only exception during that stretch.
Shohei Ohtani, 10 years, $700 million: The oft-mentioned deferrals in Ohtani’s record-setting contract spread payments out through 2043 with a yearly luxury tax value of $46 million.
Kyle Tucker, 4 years, $240 million: Tucker sent shockwaves through the sport with his four-year, $240 million contract with the Dodgers last offseason. Though shorter in length than many other big-money deals, after factoring in deferrals, the $57 million CBT AAV is the largest in MLB history.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 12 years, $325 million: Weeks after Ohtani signed with the Dodgers during the 2023-24 offseason, Yamamoto signed a record contract of his own in joining L.A. on the largest starting pitcher contract in MLB history.
Juan Soto, 15 years, $765 million: The owner of the largest total contract in MLB history won’t be on the field for this week’s series as Soto is on the injured list with a right calf strain.
Francisco Lindor, 10 years, $341 million: Lindor signed what was then the largest contract ever given to a shortstop shortly after joining the Mets in a 2021 trade with Cleveland.
Bo Bichette, 3 years, $126 million: The Mets pivoted to Bichette after missing out on Tucker in January, giving the former Blue Jays infielder a deal with the fourth-largest AAV in the sport (behind only Ohtani, Tucker and Soto).
The Dodgers spend and win. The Mets spend and hope to make the playoffs. — Schoenfield
Carson Benge makes a spectacular catch for the Mets (0:28)New York Mets (New York Mets) with a Spectacular Fielding Action Athletics, 04/12/2026 (0:28)
New York Mets (New York Mets) with a Spectacular Fielding Action Athletics, 04/12/2026 (0:28)
