{"id":102214,"date":"2025-12-20T05:13:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T05:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/102214\/"},"modified":"2025-12-20T05:13:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T05:13:09","slug":"los-angeles-dodgers-to-pay-record-169-million-luxury-tax-after-winning-2nd-straight-world-series-mlb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/102214\/","title":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Dodgers to pay record $169 million luxury tax after winning 2nd straight World Series | MLB"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 The Los Angeles Dodgers will pay a record $169.4 million luxury tax after winning their second straight World Series title<\/a>, raising their two-year tax bill to $272.4 million.<\/p>\n

The New York Mets have the second-highest tax assessment among the record-tying nine teams that pay at $91.6 million despite missing the 12-team playoffs, raising their tax owed to $320.3 million in the last four years under high-spending owner Steve Cohen.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers will pay tax for the fifth consecutive season. Their total broke the previous high of $103 million they had set last year and overtook the New York Yankees for the first time in total tax since the penalty started in 2003, $519.4 million to $514.2 million.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles’ $417.3 million tax payroll topped the previous record of $374.7 million by the 2023 Mets. The Dodgers’ total included $949,244 in noncash compensation for two-way star Shohei Ohtani, whose contract calls for use of a suite for games at Dodger Stadium and an interpreter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Mets’ payroll of $346.7 million included $369,886 in noncash compensation for Juan Soto, whose contract specified the team will pay for his use of a luxury suite, up to four premium tickets and personal team security<\/a> for the All-Star outfielder and his family. Soto finished with a record tax salary of $51,769,868 after earning $400,000 in award bonuses.<\/p>\n

The Yankees owe $61.8 million, according to figures finalized Friday by Major League Baseball and the players\u2019 association and obtained by The Associated Press. They were followed by Philadelphia ($56.1 million), AL champion Toronto ($13.6 million), San Diego (just under $7 million), Boston and Houston (both around $1.5 million), and Texas (about $190,000).<\/p>\n

Nine teams paying matches the record set year and the $402.6 million tax total topped the previous high of $311.3 million last year. Tax money is due to MLB by Jan. 21.<\/p>\n

By cutting payroll with a series of deals ahead of the 2024 trade deadline and getting below that year’s threshold, the Blue Jays reset their tax rates and saved about $21 million this year. Had they been over the threshold for the third consecutive season, their tax bill would have risen to almost $34.65 million.<\/p>\n

More than $1.63 billion in taxes have been assessed to 15 teams since the penalty started in 2003.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers, Mets, Yankees and Phillies have paid tax in four straight seasons, with Philadelphia at $80.3 million surpassing Boston at $53.2 million for the fourth-highest total since 2003. San Diego is sixth at $49.5 million. The top four teams all exceeded the fourth threshold level, added in the 2022 labor contract and nicknamed the Cohen Tax<\/a> in an initiative aimed at slowing his spending.<\/p>\n

After paying tax in consecutive years, Atlanta dropped under the threshold at $234.8 million.<\/p>\n

Among teams paying the tax, the Mets, Astros and Rangers missed the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Miami had the lowest tax payroll at $86.9 million, about one-fifth the Dodgers’ total, and the Chicago White Sox were 29th at $91.8 million.<\/p>\n

Total spending on luxury tax payrolls rose 2.3% for the second straight season, to $6.06 billion from $5.93 billion.<\/p>\n

Tax payrolls are calculated by average annual values, including earned bonuses, for players on 40-man rosters along with just over $17 million per team for benefits and $1.67 million for each club\u2019s share of the $50 million pool for pre-arbitration players that started in 2022. Deferred salaries and deferred bonus payments are discounted to present-day values.<\/p>\n

Because they owe tax for three straight years, the Mets, Dodgers, Yankees and Phillies pay at a 50% rate on the first $20 million above the $241 million threshold, a 62% rate on the next $20 million, a 95% rate on the amount from $281 million to $301 million and a 110% amount above that.<\/p>\n

Houston owes for the second year in a row and pays 30% on the amount over $241 million.<\/p>\n

Boston, San Diego and Toronto pay a 20% rate on the amount over $241 million but less than $261 million, a 32% rate on the amount over $261 million but less than $281 million and a 62.5% rate on the amount over $281 million but less than $301 million.<\/p>\n

The labor contract calls for the first $3.5 million of tax money to be used to fund player benefits and 50% of the remainder to fund player Individual Retirement Accounts. The other 50% of what\u2019s left is dedicated to a supplemental commissioner\u2019s discretionary fund that is distributed among teams that are eligible to receive revenue-sharing money and have grown their non-media local revenue.<\/p>\n

Next year\u2019s initial threshold is $244 million. If the Dodgers, Mets, Yankees or Phillies go over, they would pay at the highest tax rate, rising to 110% for the amount over $304 million.<\/p>\n

Regular payroll figures, which include 2025 salaries, prorated shares of signing bonuses and earned bonuses, have not been finalized yet.<\/p>\n

AP MLB: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/mlb<\/a><\/p>\n

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Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 The Los Angeles Dodgers will pay a record $169.4 million luxury tax after winning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[2135,55521,48,52,51,47,50,49,55520,5443,14879,127,1694],"class_list":["post-102214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-baseball","tag-compensation-in-sports","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-luxury-tax-dodgers-mets","tag-mlb-baseball","tag-mlb-world-series","tag-sports","tag-taxes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}