The Los Angeles Dodgers, with their shrewd strategy of deferred contracts, don’t have the highest salary obligations in Major League Baseball this season, after all.
That distinction belongs once again to the New York Mets, according to MLB’s present-day calculations, obtained by USA TODAY Sports.
The Dodgers, thanks to heavily deferred contracts to Shohei Ohtani and some of their biggest stars, have an opening-day payroll of $321.3 million, second to the Mets’ payroll of $323.1 million.
The Dodgers’ secret is the deferred payments that dramatically lower the present-day value of the contracts. Led by the bulk of Ohtani’s 10-year, $700 million contract, the deferrals also lower the club’s luxury tax commitments and penalties.
Ohtani is deferring $68 million of his $70 million annual salary, lowering his present-day value to $28.2 million of cash obligations to the Dodgers this year. It leaves Ohtani as only the 18th highest-paid player in baseball as calculated by the MLB Labor Relations Department in 2025. He’s the second-highest paid player on his team behind Tyler Glasnow’s $30 million salary, 14th overall in baseball.
It’s similar to the other heavily-deferred contracts negotiated by the Dodgers. Blake Snell, who signed a five-year, $182 million free-agent deal this winter, has a present-day contract value of $26.825 million instead of $36.4 million. Teoscar Hernandez’s three-year, $66 million contract costs the Dodgers $13.45 million instead of $22 million. Mookie Betts’ present-day value is $26.15 million instead of $30.4 million, and Freddie Freeman’s contract is worth $23.35 million in present-day value instead of $27 million.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, whose 12-year, $325 million contract contained a $50 million signing bonus and is backloaded, is valued at $14.166 by MLB this season instead of the 12-year average of $27.083 million.
The Boston Red Sox, who signed Alex Bregman to a three-year, $120 million deal, also followed suit this winter by structuring his deal with heavy deferrals. They have just $25.93 million in present-day salary obligations owed to him this year instead of $40 million. Bregman deferred $60 million of his contract, $20 million annually that will be paid from 2035-2046.
The wave of deferred contracts throughout baseball leaves Juan Soto of the New York Mets as baseball’s highest-paid player. He signed a record 15-year, $765 million contract in December with no deferrals. His salary is calculated at $61.875 million this year by MLB, easily the highest in baseball history, and nearly $20 million higher than Zack Wheeler of the Philadelphia Phillies.
Here are the top 10 salaries in baseball this season according to MLB’s present-day valuations:
Highest paid MLB players 2025
(In MLB’s calculated present-day value)
- Juan Soto, Mets: $61.875 million
- Zack Wheeler: $42 million
- Jacob deGrom, Texas Rangers: $40 million
- Aaron Judge, New York Yankees: $40 million
- Anthony Rendon, Los Angeles Angels: $38.571 million
- Carlos Correa, Minnesota Twins: $37.333 million
- Mike Trout, Angels: $37.116 million
- Gerrit Cole, Yankees: $36 million
- Jose Altuve, Houston Astros: $33 million
- Corey Seager, Rangers: $32.5 million
While the Dodgers don’t have a single player among the top 10 salaries in present-day value, their cross-town neighbors have two of the top seven salaries in Trout and Rendon. Rendon, who doesn’t have any deferred payments in his contract and is out for the season, will earn $10 million more than Ohtani, according to MLB’s calculations.
Ohtani, of course, earns more than any player in baseball history in endorsements, estimated at more than $100 million.
The cash obligations certainly reflect a massive difference between the large market and small market clubs, which could lead to a work stoppage after the 2026 season.
There are nine teams who have salary obligations of at least $200 million, with the Mets and the Dodgers the only teams above $300 million, but there are seven teams below $100 million.
The Miami Marlins have the lowest payroll in baseball at just $52.993 million, which is $269.26 million less than the Mets.
The five teams below $100 million this year: Pirates ($87.6 million), White Sox ($82.3 million), Rays ($79.2 million), Athletics ($73.1 million) and Marlins ($67.4 million).
Highest MLB team payrolls 2025
- Mets – $323.1 million
- Dodgers – $321.3 million
- Yankees – $293.5 million
- Phillies – $284.2 million
- Blue Jays – $239.6 million
- Rangers – $220.5 million
- Atlanta – $214.8 million
- Padres – $208.9 million
- Cubs – $196.3 million
- Diamondbacks – $195.3 million
While the NL East has three of the top seven payrolls in baseball, the AL East has three of the top 12 and NL West has four of the top 14. The divisions with the most payroll parity belong to the AL and NL Central.
The Detroit Tigers have the highest payroll ($143.19) in the AL Central, which is only the 17th-highest in baseball, with four of the five teams separated by only $44 million. The Cubs have the highest payroll in the NL Central ($196.3 million), which is about $55 million more than the runner-up St. Louis Cardinals ($141.4).
The Dodgers lead all of baseball with 13 players earning at least $10 million this season, while Sandy Alcantara ($17.3 million) is the lone player on the Marlins earning more than $4.5 million. They have only seven players even making $1 million, with everyone else on the team earning $831,000 or less.
Follow Nightengale on X: @Bnightengale
The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.
