The 93-win Dodgers won their 4th consecutive NL West title in 2025 and are headed back to the World Series for the 2nd straight season (5th time in 9 years). Is it truly a pay to play league, or are the Dodgers just constructing their roster better than everyone else? Recent trends point toward the likelihood of a little bit of both, but this team will remain a contender until further notice.

A Bright Spot
Another year, another next man up in LA. CF Andy Pages (the #9 hitter) posted 27 doubles, 27 homers, 86 RBI, and 14 stolen bases in a breakout season. The 24-year-old was signed out of Cuba on a $300,000 bonus back in 2018, and is under team control through 2030.

A Big Concern
Injuries? While they certainly haven’t impeded the franchise from reaching its annual goal, the Dodgers have spent most of the past three seasons battling significant injuries in all facets of the roster. Will there be a point where they simply don’t have enough horsepower to maintain good standing through the marathon season?

Related Links
2026 Dodgers Financials
MLB Offseason Guides

Pending Free Agents

Let’s put it this way: None of these names scream “the Dodgers will be weaker in 2026”.

PLAYER MARKET VALUE
Clayton Kershaw (SP, 37) Retirement
Michael Conforto (OF, 32) $6.6M
Miguel Rojas (INF, 36) $3.5M
Kirby Yates (RP, 38) $1.1M
Michael Kopech (SP, 29) Minimum

Option Decisions

At this point it doesn’t appear likely that Muncy will be brought back on this option, at least initially speaking. If he’s not overwhelmed elsewhere this winter ($14.5M market value), don’t count out a late return.

PLAYER OPTION SALARY
Max Muncy (3B/1B, 35) $10M club option
Alex Vesia (RP, 29) $3.6M club option ($50k buyout)

Arbitration-Eligibility

Half of these players finished 2025 on the Injured List, while only Banda has made much of an impact down the stretch. 

PLAYER PROJ. ARB SALARY
Evan Phillips (RP, 31) $6.1M
Tony Gonsolin (SP, 32) $5.4M
Brusdar Graterol (RP, 27) $2.8M
Alex Call (OF, 31) $2.75M
Anthony Banda (RP, 32) $2M
Brock Stewart (RP, 34) $1.5M
Ben Rortvedt (C, 28) $1.25M
Esteury Ruiz (OF, 27) $1M
Michael Grove (RP, 29) $850k

Guaranteed Salary

When healthy, this is quite frankly one of the best groups of veteran contracts in MLB, and maybe ever. There tends to be a surprising move from this front office each offseason, so it stands to reason that at least one of these contracts is removed in some fashion, but there’s a world where this group is run back for 2026.

PLAYER CBT SALARY
Shohei Ohtani (TWP, 31) $46M
Blake Snell (SP, 33) $31.3M
Mookie Betts (SS, 33) $30.4M
Tyler Glasnow (SP, 32) $27.3M
Yoshinobu Yamamoto (SP, 27) $27M
Freddie Freeman (1B, 36) $27M
Teoscar Hernandez (OF, 33) $19.9M
Tanner Scott (RP, 31) $16.2M
Tommy Edman (UTIL, 31) $13M
Will Smith (C, 31) $12.2M
Blake Treinen (RP, 38) $11M
Hyeseong Kim (2B, 27) $4.1M

Team Tax Projections

The 2025 Dodgers broke the $400M ceiling, posting an estimated $416M CBT payroll according to our numbers. They hit the ground running in 2026 with a projected $316M tax payroll, $71M over the threshold. Oh and by the way, they’re already rumored to be in on free agent RF Kyle Tucker this winter.

Spotrac's 2026 MLB Offseason Previews