Back in August, we took a hard look at MLB's payroll landscape and asked a simple question: Do you really get what you pay for? At the time, the season was still unfolding with a few teams teasing us with surprising efficiency - or shocking waste. Now we update our August findings with final 2025 numbers. Payroll was up overall in 2025 but not for everyone, of course. Where did the big spenders finish? Did the frugal teams make an impact? Where do our own Minnesota Twins land in the rankings? Here is how the 2025 MLB season ultimately shook out for every team.
Where the Minnesota Twins finish among final 2025 MLB total payroll rankings
1. Los Angeles Dodgers
Total 2025 Payroll: $350,024,106
2025 Results: 93-69 (5th in MLB) - 1st in NL West, World Series Champions
2024 Ranking: 3 ($266,640,208)
Fresh off their second-straight World Series championship, this ranking should, as in August, surprise no one. The Dodgers have assembled what looks like an All-Star team many of us would put together when playing any one of a dozen different baseball games. With star power like Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, and Mookie Betts, you are bound to shell out for it but the Dodgers are proving it has been worth every penny.
2. New York Mets
Total 2025 Payroll: $342,303,011
2025 Results: 83-79 (13th in MLB) - 2nd in NL East, missed playoffs
2024 Ranking: 1 ($322,960,494)
For the second year in a row, the Mets were looking up at the Philadelphia Phillies in their division. Despite increasing spending, and signing Juan Soto last December, the Mets are spending with the big boys but the results aren't materializing on the field.
3. New York Yankees
Total 2025 Payroll: $304,091,683
2025 Results: 94-68 (4th in MLB) - 2nd in AL East, Wild Card berth
2024 Ranking: 2 ($315,616,982)
The final team on the list to spend more than $300,000,000 for the 2025 season, the Yankees are perennially in the top 5 in payroll. They finished second to Toronto in the AL East this year with the same record as the Blue Jays - the Jays won the season series, of course. Like the Dodgers, the Yankees spend every year, and each year they are in the mix. As much as we like to hate them, we can probably admit that they spend their money pretty well. Hard to argue with results.
4. Philadelphia Phillies
Total 2025 Payroll: $292,315,191
2025 Results: 96-66 (2nd in MLB) - NL East Champions
2024 Ranking: 5 ($244,253,627)
The Phillies have been consistent contenders for many years now. They've shown their fanbase that they're not afraid to open that checkbook up, but as any Phillies fan will tell you, their regular season success isn't translating to the postseason. Their roster is aging (tied for the oldest avg. age with Texas), and with the free agency departure of Kyle Schwarber, one has to ask if Philadelphia can keep pace much longer - on the field or in payroll.
5. Toronto Blue Jays
Total 2025 Payroll: $255,230,406
2025 Results: 96-66 (3rd in MLB) - AL East Champions, WS loss
2024 Ranking: 9 ($219,180,044)
The Blue Jays are proof of what a little additional spending can do for a team when done in the right way. After finishing dead last in the AL East, the Jays roared back to capture the division title this year and make it to the World Series. With the recent signing of Dylan Cease (7-year, $210 million), expect to see Toronto compete again next year on the field and to remain in the top 10 for payroll - they've shown that strategic spending can lead to worst-to-first results in the AL East.
6. Houston Astros
Total 2025 Payroll: $232,140,003
2025 Results: 87-75 (11th in MLB) - 2nd in AL West, missed playoffs
2024 Ranking: 4 ($248,670,553)
Another team most of the country loves to hate, the Houston Astros have a roster of veterans that wasn't quite firing on all cylinders this year. They're still a dangerous team on paper despite their slow collapse down the stretch. 2025 is described as "disappointing" and "underwhelming" for the Astros. They closed the season 15-15 in their last 30 games, not enough to hold off the surging Mariners, who ended the season 19-11 in the same stretch.
7. Texas Rangers
Total 2025 Payroll: $226,526,491
2025 Results: 81-81 (17th in MLB) - 3rd in AL West, missed playoffs
2024 Ranking: 8 ($227,545,408)
Staying in the Lone Star State, the Rangers couldn't get more ".500" if they tried. Their payroll dipped by approximately $1,000,000 in 2025, resulting in a one-spot drop year over year. When we checked in on them in August, they were 66-66 and were in 3rd place - "treading water" is what we said. That could encapsulate their entire 2025 season. They ended the year with an average for their record, but ahead of the $176,570,521 payroll average in MLB. So, are they ahead of the curve in spending vs results, or are they overspending? It is hard to tell with a team that seems so milquetoast.
8. San Diego Padres
Total 2025 Payroll: $223,125,239
2025 Results: 90-72 (8th in MLB) - 2nd in NL West, Wild Card berth
2024 Ranking: 14 ($172,855,090)
The Padres upped their spending by about $50,000,000 from 2024, but have stiff competition in their division with the Dodgers outspending them by over $100,000,000 for the year. Despite the payroll difference between the two teams, the Padres finished just three games back of the "West Coast Yankees" and made the playoffs as a Wild Card team. Just three games off their 2024 pace, only time will tell if the money they're paying now is going to be worth it in the long term. So far, it appears to be.
9. Atlanta Braves
Total 2025 Payroll: $220,223,651
2025 Results: 76-86 (23rd in MLB) - 4th in NL East, missed playoffs
2024 Ranking: 6 ($238,108,491)
Still in the "big-market spending" category, the Braves largely had a year to forget. Their pitching had some good moments and some terrible ones. The bullpen resembled the Minnesota Twins' relivers - not a compliment. Sports Illustrated reported that the Braves shortstops were statistically the worst in baseball offensively - also not helpful. The only thing that went right for Atlanta was Matt Olson. After such high preseason hopes and expectations, 2025 showed that top-10 spending doesn't save you from Murphy's law. And no, not Sean Murphy. Although considering his 2025 season (batted .199), it may be his law too!
10. Chicago Cubs
Total 2025 Payroll: $214,020,073
2025 Results: 92-70 (6th in MLB) - 2nd in NL Central, Wild Card berth
2024 Ranking: 7 ($231,700,554)
When we last checked in with the Cubs in August, they were on pace to win 93 games - not bad, Chicago! Finishing second to the regular season record champion Milwaukee Brewers, the Cubs continued to show that, even by reducing payroll, a team can still compete. Their current investments are sound, and Pete Crow-Armstrong is a beast - enough said. By the way, Crow-Armstrong is in pre-arbitration regarding his contract, but I'd expect a payout and a bump in payroll down the road.
11. Los Angeles Angels
Total 2025 Payroll: $208,420,995
2025 Results: 72-90 (6th in MLB) - 5th in AL West, missed playoffs
2024 Ranking: 15 ($171,986,921)
Ah, yes, the other team from Los Angeles. The Angels were 61-69 with 30 games to go and were in 4th in their division in August. In what was undoubtedly a down year production-wise for Mike Trout, he was far from the only thing that went wrong for the team. With bad pitching and a deadweight contract (and player) in Anthony Rendon, the Angels should probably blow it up and start over.
12. Boston Red Sox
Total 2025 Payroll: $203,658,855
2025 Results: 89-73 (9th in MLB) - 3rd in AL East, Wild Card berth
2024 Ranking: 11 ($190,176,844)
The final team to spend over $200,000,000 in 2025, the Red Sox managed to snatch a Wild Card spot in a very crowded AL East in 2025. The season was widely considered to be a rollercoaster for Boston. They didsign rookie Kristian Campbell to an eight-year deal, signifying their belief in his future, but, and perhaps this is a testament to the "rollercoaster" ride of 2025, veteran Alex Bregman opted out of the final two years of his contract to test the open market. Coming personnel changes/decisions aside, the Sox had a good showing for their payroll ranking this year.
13. San Francisco Giants
Total 2025 Payroll: $178,562,152
2025 Results: 81-81 (16th in MLB) - 3rd in NL West, missed playoffs
2024 Ranking: 10 ($207,092,069)
One of two teams close to the league average in payroll, the Giants appear to have landed precisely where they should have for what they spent. Average in payroll should equal average in record - and it did for San Fran. The Giants are up one spot from the August rankings, the first team to move in this list, scooting past the Diamondbacks. At the time, they were 63-68, but they ended the season 17-13 in their last 30 games. Technically, they won one more game, even though they reduced payroll from 2024 by close to $30,000,000. Perhaps the Rafael Devers addition helped after all?
14. Arizona Diamondbacks
Total 2025 Payroll: $177,424,443
2025 Results: 80-82 (18th in MLB) - 4th in NL West, missed playoffs
2024 Ranking: 13 ($178,427,194)
Nothing like payroll consistency. Our final team at the league-average level is the D-backs, whose payrolls changed by less than $1,000,000 year to year. Their overall play was down this year, winning nine fewer games in 2025, but that isn't likely to be payroll-related at this point. If they had repeated their 2024 results, we could have said they slightly overperformed given their payroll, but this year, they'll have to be content with performing in line with what they paid.
15. Seattle Mariners
Total 2025 Payroll: $165,596,493
2025 Results: 90-72 (7th in MLB) - AL West Champions
2024 Ranking: 13 ($178,427,194)
Our first team to spend less than the league average proves that shelling out isn't always necessary for great team success. The Seattle Mariners, behind what should have been an MVP season for Cal Raleigh, made a deep run into the playoffs, losing to Toronto in the ALCS. If they're able to ink their mainstays to long-term deals, they should remain a solid team for years to come. Raleigh signed a six-year agreement in March, so he'll be launching bombs for the Mariners faithful for the foreseeable future.
16. Baltimore Orioles
Total 2025 Payroll: $158,571,377
2025 Results: 75-87 (24th in MLB) - 5th in AL East, missed playoffs
2024 Ranking: 22 ($111,309,008)
With an uptick of over $40,000,000 in spending for the 2025 season, Orioles fans may have expected...better...than how this season turned out. Baltimore has one of the youngest teams in MLB, and it will take time for things to pan out. Everyone knows Baltimore has a cache of young, top-tier talent, and the rest of us are wincing, waiting for the not-so-far-off day that it all clicks for a fraction of what it should cost a team. The results will be there.
17. Detroit Tigers
Total 2025 Payroll: $157,542,361
2025 Results: 87-75 (12th in MLB) - 2nd in AL Central, Wild Card berth
2024 Ranking: 26 ($98,607,894)
The first AL Central team to appear on the list (unsure if that reflects more on the league or the division...), the Detroit Tigers spent six months in first place, only to endure an epic collapse that allowed the Cleveland Guardians to snatch the division crown. Unfortunately, the Tigers can now lay claim to one of the sharpest falls in league history, but that shouldn't take away from their results in spending comparison. Yes, things fell apart at the end, but baseball can be that way - as any fanbase knows. They ended the year 9-21, but if they had maintained their pace and not self-destructed, the Tigers would have tallied around 95 wins. The value is there, context is everything.
18. Milwaukee Brewers
Total 2025 Payroll: $137,618,720
2025 Results: 97-65 (1st in MLB) - NL Central Champions
2024 Ranking: 21 ($124,643,685)
The payroll lottery winner, the NL Central champion Brewers! Moving up five spots since August, their investment-to-results ratio is still tops in baseball. Despite being swept in the NLCS by Los Angeles, the success Milwaukee had this year comes down to player development, not money that went out the door for contracts. With several top-100 prospects in their minor league system, the Brewers are building up players and their roster without building up payroll. Milwaukee wins the 2025 Award for Most Efficient Spending!
19. Kansas City Royals
Total 2025 Payroll: $133,630,058
2025 Results: 82-80 (15th in MLB) - 3rd in AL Central, missed playoffs
2024 Ranking: 20 ($125,570,914)
Often lost in the shuffle of the AL Central, the Royals quietly put together a decent 2025. Missing out on the final AL Wild Card spot by just five games, the Royals continue to be led by Bobby Witt, Jr., and by a strong season from Maikel Garcia. Despite a bit of a late-season fall off, the Royals never overinvest for the results they get on the field. They continue to be thrifty and remain in the AL Central mix.
20. St. Louis Cardinals
Total 2025 Payroll: $131,152,698
2025 Results: 78-84 (20th in MLB) - 4th in NL Central, missed playoffs
2024 Ranking: 12 ($179,440,274)
Down eight spots from 2024, the Cardinals reduced payroll and on-field production in 2025. This was just the second time since 2000 that St. Louis has finished with a record below .500. With Nolan Arenado appearing to be finished as a Cardinal and with the president of baseball operations (John Mozeliak) leaving, we appear to be on the threshold of new things in St. Louis. Will they return to 2024 spending and relevance or hold their position below league average? With the three teams ahead of them in the division, they'll clearly need to do something.
21. Minnesota Twins
Total 2025 Payroll: $131,152,698
2025 Results: 70-92 (27th in MLB) - 4th in AL Central, missed playoffs
2024 Ranking: 19 ($131,225,880)
I'm letting my bias show a bit - the Twins maintained their spending levels from 2024, despite a decent showing that season. In 2025, a year when many felt we should have spent more to build on momentum, the Pohlad family opted not to. The result is the 27th-worst record in MLB with no fix in sight. Perhaps the Twins overperformed in 2024, absolutely possible, but with the unloading of the Carlos Correa contract, there should be more room to sure up key pieces like Joe Ryan to form a nucleus with Byron Buxton. If they continue to cheap out (not efficient or thrifty), don't expect players like Buxton, Ryan, or Pablo Lopez to want to hang around. This list shows you don't have to spend to win, but for goodness' sake, Pohlads, make an effort!
22. Colorado Rockies
Total 2025 Payroll: $127,325,786
2025 Results: 43-119 (30th in MLB) - 5th in NL West, missed playoffs
2024 Ranking: 17 ($147,506,521)
I'll begin by saying I feel TERRIBLE for the Rockies. No amount of spending, or lack thereof, has ever produced so dismal a season in recent memory. That being said, the Rockies have a strong crop of prospects moving through the minor league system as we speak - save the money for when these guys are ready to hit the big leagues and then lock them up. Stick it out for now, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
23. Cincinnati Reds
Total 2025 Payroll: $119,036,486
2025 Results: 83-79 (14th in MLB) - 3rd in NL Central, Wild Card berth
2024 Ranking: 25 ($102,298,823)
Just as we saw in August, the Reds hung around just enough to leapfrog the Mets in the Wild Card race and punch their ticket to the postseason. They continued to punch above their weight concerning payroll. It is too early to tell where they will land next year, but they have plenty to build on from a decent 2025 campaign.
24. Washington Nationals
Total 2025 Payroll: $109,465,924
2025 Results: 66-96 (28th in MLB) - 5th in NL East, missed playoffs
2024 Ranking: 23 ($107,128,130)
MLB's youngest team is in a rebuild stage. Gone are the long-term veteran contracts, except Stephen Strasburg's. James Woods and CJ Abrams both turned in solid showings in 2025, but with the dismissal of both the general manager and manager, it remains to be seen what new leadership can do for this extremely young team. Look for Woods and Abrams to be cornerstones in the coming season.
25. Cleveland Guardians
Total 2025 Payroll: $100,265,946
2025 Results: 88-74 (10th in MLB) - AL Central Champions
2024 Ranking: 24 ($107,113,214)
The converse to the Tigers, the Guardians roared back from 15 games back to overtake Detroit in the AL Central in 2025. In August, they were in 3rd place in the division, but finishing the season 22-9 in the last 30 games erases a multitude of issues. Never an overly flashy team, year in and year out, this club always seems to find itself at or near the top of the AL Central. As in August, we can dub the Guardians "consistently frugal" - competing on less than one-third of what the top spenders threw down for 2025.
26. Tampa Bay Rays
Total 2025 Payroll: $88,629,788
2025 Results: 77-85 (21st in MLB) - 4th in AL East, missed playoffs
2024 Ranking: 28 ($89,852,001)
Our first team below the $100,000,000 threshold, the Rays have never been big spenders. They find themselves in a perennially difficult division where their low spending tactics require quite a bit of luck. It has worked in the past, but it is hard to win in the AL East without opening the pocketbook once in a while.
27. Pittsburgh Pirates
Total 2025 Payroll: $84,423,338
2025 Results: 71-91 (27th in MLB) - 5th in NL Central, missed playoffs
2024 Ranking: 29 ($85,405,037)
I'm not sure how the Pirates will afford to pay generational talent Paul Skenes - maybe their owner doesn't plan to. Bob Nutting is to the Pirates fanbase as the Pohlad family is to Twins Territory - nauseatingly cheap. Their 2025 results, aside from Skenes and his unanimous Cy Young Award win, are precisely what they paid for. Pirates fans - we in Minnesota understand what you're going through.
28. Chicago White Sox
Total 2025 Payroll: $79,960,763
2025 Results: 60-102 (29th in MLB) - 5th in AL Central, missed playoffs
2024 Ranking: 18 ($142,916,866)
So, this is what happens when you cut your payroll in half...or is it? Believe it or not, the White Sox won 19 more games in 2025 than they did in 2024. I doubt there is a correlation here, but the White Sox are another team I feel some pity for. This was the third season in a row that they've lost more than 100 games, and the fourth time since 2018.
29. The ??? Athletics
Total 2025 Payroll: $78,384,241
2025 Results: 76-86 (22nd in MLB) - 4th in AL West, missed playoffs
2024 Ranking: 30 ($63,503,127)
I said it before, and I'll say it again, it is a miracle that the Athletics did as well as they did this year. The Athletics, the team with no home, managed 76 wins while spending less than $80,000,000 on the year. Nick Kurtz brought home the Rookie of the Year Award, and first baseman Tyler Soderstrom, who missed just four games all year, provided much-needed pop for the A's with 25 homers and 93 RBI. Pieces for the future are there, I hope the investment will match the talent growing up before Athletics fans' eyes.
30. Miami Marlins
Total 2025 Payroll: $67,794,627
2025 Results: 79-83 (19th in MLB) - 3rd in NL East, missed playoffs
2024 Ranking: 27 ($97,569,865)
This was a surprise to me - the Marlins missed the final Wild Card spot by just four games! Most baseball fans know that the Marlins tend to be cheap when it comes to spending, but Miami put together a shockingly good 2025. The Marlins spent less than one-third of what the Braves shelled out in 2025 and outperformed them by three games in the division. It doesn't sound like much, but when you put $67,794,627 and $220,223,651 next to each other, it is a little more impressive. One can only wonder what kind of results the Marlins might have in 2026 if they spent just a little bit more.
Breaking down the final payroll rankings
When all was said and done, the 2025 season proved once again that payroll only tells a part of the story in professional baseball. Some of MLB's biggest spenders delivered exactly what their budgets paid for, while others struggled to justify their investments. At the same time, several low-budget clubs showed that smart development and cohesive rosters can lead to better records than many of the deepest pockets have accomplished this year. As teams begin to look forward to 2026, one thing remains unchanged: money helps, but it still doesn't guarantee a winning season.