Every Time the Dodgers Play, They Spend $16 Million

A step-by-step look at the math behind MLB’s most expensive roster and what it actually buys

Here’s a number that doesn’t feel real:

$16,074,614.

That’s how much the Dodgers are spending per game this season. Not per year. Not per roster spot. One game at a time.

So let’s slow it down, do the math properly, and see what the Dodgers’ payroll really looks like when you stop talking in billions.

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By now, we’ve all heard about the Dodgers signing Kyle Tucker to a four-year, $240 million deal.

It was right around this time last year when I put out a piece for LWOSports about the Dodgers and whether or not they were “ruining baseball.” At that point, the two biggest acquisitions were Roki Sasaki and Tanner Scott.

There are plenty of articles out there, including mine, arguing why the Dodgers are or aren’t ruining the sport. But I started thinking about something a little different.

We all know they’re spending a ton of money. But how much are they really spending per game?

Let’s start simple.

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Basic Math:

Cost Per Game = Team Payroll ÷ 162

Cost Per Win = Team Payroll ÷ Wins/Expected Wins

I’m not going to count if there’s deferred money. Just the full contract¹. Totally, they are at two billion, six hundred four million, eighty-seven thousand, five hundred. This can also be written as 2,604,087,500.

First, we’re going to do cost per game. 2,604,087,500 ÷ 162 is 16,074,614.1975, or sixteen million seventy-four thousand six hundred fourteen and one thousand nine hundred seventy-five ten-thousandths. That is the Dodgers’ cost per game (and we’re just talking about their roster).

When it comes to their cost per win, it’s going to be even more. 2,604,087,500 ÷ 95 is 27,411,447.3684 or twenty-seven million four hundred eleven thousand four hundred forty-seven and three thousand six hundred eighty-four ten-thousandths.

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Now, Lets Use Sigmas and WAR

Okay, now a little bit more complex. Instead of looking at per season, let’s look at it by WAR.

\(\frac{\sum_{i=1}^{n} P_i} {\sum_{i=1}^{n} \left( W_i \times D_i \right)} \)

For now, I’m only using projections for the Dodgers this season. As we get closer to Opening Day, I’ll expand this across the league. But this gives us a clean starting point.

Now, what exactly do these variables mean? Let’s check it out:

• P i²​ = Team payroll in season i (Opening Day payroll)

• W i = Team WAR in season i (FanGraphs, total team WAR)

• D i = Depth factor in season i

• n = Number of seasons included

We’re going to set n=1, the payroll = 2,604,087,500, war = 55.9, and depth = 1.

Now, technically, because we are only using this for a single season, the sigma is not needed. It becomes a little easier now. The formula is simply 2,604,087,500 ÷ 55.9.

That turns out to equal 46.58 million per expected marginal win.

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How Does That Compare?

When people think “big spending” in baseball, the Dodgers come to mind first. But let’s look around the league.

New York Mets

• Total contract liability: ~$1.832 billion

• Projected wins: 83

• Cost per win: $22,072,289

• Projected WAR: 43.4

• Cost per WAR: $42,211,981

Still massive, but noticeably lower than the Dodgers.

Cleveland Guardians

• Total payroll: ~$212.5 million

• Projected wins: 80.5

• Cost per win: $2,639,751

• Projected WAR: 34.2

• Cost per WAR: $6,213,450

Look at that gap.

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Now, something else that I thought. We often hear about how the state of California is rapidly advancing in rank when it comes to GDP.

That got me thinking about something else: how many entire countries the Dodgers are spending more money on than. This was surprising.

33 countries.

Yeah. You read that right.

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The Dodgers aren’t ruining baseball.

They’re playing baseball intelligently.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: baseball doesn’t need a salary cap. It needs a salary floor. The Dodgers are taking advantage of the system as it exists, and other teams could have done the same.

I could’ve gone even deeper with this, and honestly, there are a dozen other angles still sitting on the table. I cut it here because this felt like the right length for what I wanted to show.

But I want to hear your thoughts.

Drop a comment below.

1. Contract data: https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/contracts/_/team/lad

2. Sorry, I couldn’t figure out how to format these right.