![\"ohtani-dodgers-g.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ohtani-dodgers-g.jpg\")
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Getty Images<\/p>\n
The Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a>, baseball’s two-time defending champions, will pay a record-smashing $169.4 million in competitive balance tax (CBT) for the 2025 season, reports the Associated Press<\/a>. That is based on a $417.3 million CBT payroll, easily the highest in baseball. The 2025 Dodgers are, by a wide margin, the most expensive roster in baseball history.<\/p>\n The CBT threshold was $241 million in 2025. Tax rates escalate the more you exceed the threshold and also based on how many consecutive years you pay CBT. The Dodgers are a repeat offender and were hit with the highest tax rates, which include a 110% tax on every dollar spent over $301 million. That $301 million threshold is known as the “Steve Cohen tax,” after the Mets<\/a>‘ owner.<\/p>\n CBT payroll is based on the average annual value of player contracts, not the player’s actual salary in that season. Cot’s Baseball Contracts<\/a> estimates the Dodgers’ actual cash payroll at $347.0 million for 2025. Between a $347.0 million actual payroll and the $169.4 million CBT bill, the Dodgers will pay approximately $516.4 million for their championship roster this past season.<\/p>\n A record-tying nine teams paid CBT this season. Here are the nine teams and their tax bills:<\/p>\n Dodgers<\/p>\n $417,341,608 \u00a0<\/p>\n $169,375,768 <\/p>\n Mets<\/p>\n $346,670,456 \u00a0<\/p>\n $91,637,501 \u00a0<\/p>\n Yankees<\/a><\/p>\n $319,522,564 <\/p>\n $61,774,820 \u00a0<\/p>\n Phillies<\/a><\/p>\n $314,329,912 <\/p>\n $56,062,903 \u00a0<\/p>\n Blue Jays<\/a><\/p>\n $286,135,551 <\/p>\n $13,609,719 \u00a0<\/p>\n Padres<\/a><\/p>\n $270,351,396 <\/p>\n $6,992,447 \u00a0<\/p>\n Red Sox<\/a><\/p>\n $248,859,139 <\/p>\n $1,496,828 \u00a0<\/p>\n Astros<\/a><\/p>\n $245,991,459 \u00a0<\/p>\n $1,497,438 \u00a0<\/p>\n Rangers<\/a><\/p>\n $241,380,966 <\/p>\n $190,483 \u00a0<\/p>\n That’s just under $403 million total in CBT. Per Article XXIII(H) of the collective bargaining agreement, the first $3.5 million of that $403 million goes toward player benefits. 50% of the remainder is used to fund player retirement accounts, and the other 50% is distributed to non-CBT teams by commissioner Rob Manfred based on local revenue growth and other factors.<\/p>\n The Dodgers paid a $103.0 million CBT bill for the 2024 season, which was the previous record. The 2023 Mets are the only other team to rack up a nine-figure CBT bill. They paid $100.8 million that year<\/a>. Prior to 2023, no team had ever paid more than $43.6 million in CBT in a single season. That number was then eclipsed eight times from 2023-25.<\/p>\n L.A.’s monster tax bill comes not long after\u00a0manager Dave Roberts came out in favor of a salary cap<\/a>, though he couched it by saying there would also have to be a “(salary) floor to make those bottom-feeders spend money too.” MLB and the 30 owners are\u00a0once again expected to pursue a salary cap<\/a> when the CBA expires next Dec. 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Images The Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball’s two-time defending champions, will pay a record-smashing $169.4 million in competitive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361487,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[155547,155549,1513,3959,49,48,155550,155551,511,1506,487,91357,155548,462,155546,475,3980,6905,481,477,82,3992,507,24418,1505],"class_list":["post-361486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-169-million","tag-169m","tag-blue-jays","tag-boston-red-sox","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cbt","tag-competitive-balance-tax","tag-dodgers","tag-houston-astros","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-luxury-tax","tag-luxury-tax-bill","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-luxury-tax","tag-new-york-mets","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-ohtani","tag-philadelphia-phillies","tag-san-diego-padres","tag-sports","tag-texas-rangers","tag-toronto-blue-jays","tag-world-series","tag-yankees"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}