Examining Each MLB 2025 Playoff Team Shows Wild Player Payroll Divide

With the 2025 Major League Baseball regular season in the books, the playoffs are set. From the Dodgers to the Guardians and all in between, the amount each club spent on player payroll could not be wider.

In the expanded Wild Card era, a total of 12 teams have punched their ticket to the postseason. The Los Angeles Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners, Philadelphia Phillies, Milwaukee Brewers, and Cleveland Guardians each won their respective divisions. Based on win percentage and seeding based on tiebreakers, the Blue Jays and Mariners in the American League, with the Phillies and Brewers in the National League, secured first-round Wild Card byes. Starting Tuesday, the Wild Card Series will feature the Detroit Tigers vs the Cleveland Guardians, and the Boston Red Sox vs. the New York Yankees in the American League, while the Cincinnati Reds vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres vs. the Chicago Cubs in the National League. All Wild Card games will be aired on ESPN or ABC.

Player Payroll Divide Between Playoff Teams

Based on the 40-man player payrolls provided by Cot’s Contracts, there is a striking divide between the playoff teams. From the top (Dodgers) to the bottom (Guardians), there is a gap of $247.3 million. The Dodgers’ player payroll is the only one in excess of $300 million, while six clubs are over $200 million by player payroll, four are over $100 million, and just the Guardians is under $100 million.

In a sign of payroll parity across the 12 playoff teams, the average ranking across them is 12, or slightly above the midway point of the 30 clubs in the league.

Based on the 30 clubs in Major League Baseball, of the 12 playoff teams, five rank in the top 10. The Dodgers, with their $346.9 million player payroll, rank #1, followed by the Yankees ($298.1 million, rank #3), Phillies ($289.7 million, rank #4), Blue Jays ($254 million, rank #5), and Padres ($214.6 million, rank #9).

There are four clubs with player payroll that fall in the middle third of the 30 clubs. They are the Cubs ($207.6 million, rank #11), Red Sox ($201 million, rank #12), Mariners ($165.2 million, rank #15), and Tigers ($161.4 million, rank #16).

In the bottom third of the 30 MLB clubs, three have made the postseason. They are the Reds ($116.1 million, rank #22), Brewers ($115 million, rank #25), and Guardians ($99.6 million, rank #25).

Based on the playoff bracket, this creates some intriguing scenarios.

The Dodgers, with their massive payroll, will face off against the Reds, who have the third-lowest player payroll, in one of the NL Wild Card matchups. The Tigers and Guardians, who battled right down to the wire to win the AL Central, will face off against each other in one AL Wild Card, while the rivalry between the Red Sox and Yankees plays out in the other AL Wild Card. The Padres and Cubs, who have player payrolls very near each other, play in the other NL Wild Card. What if the vaunted Yankees don’t get past the Red Sox? What if, miraculously, the Dodgers lose to the Reds? Losses by either would be seen as a stunning defeat given how much they have spent to get to the postseason.

Breaking Down Cost Per Win

How efficiently a club spends is in the eye of the beholder. After all, the resources, based on market size and brand, are wildly divergent across the spectrum of playoff teams. Los Angeles is – and should be – having more resources than Cleveland. How effectively the clubs spend won’t be fully known until a World Series Champion is crowned, but we can now look at the cost per regular-season win.

Strikingly, the best regular-season record for the 2025 season goes to the Brewers with 97 wins. Milwaukee, with its $115 million player payroll, spent $1.19 million per win, ranking it the second-most efficient playoff team behind only the Cleveland Guardians, whose 88 wins and $99.6 million player payroll translate to just $1.13 million per win.

Compare this to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who wind up in the NL Wild Card with 93 wins and a cost of $3.73 million per win.

The gap between the Dodgers and Guardians is stunning: the Dodgers spent nearly 3.3 times as much as the Guardians per win.