Quick Hit: MLB Player’s Salaries to Hit $4 Billion in 2016

Major League Baseball is ready to set a mark that the NFL, NBA and NHL have never hit and will likely never hit, MLB’s salary is about to hit the $4 billion mark. The American League will make up nearly a quarter of a billion dollars more than the National League according to post-season 2015 numbers according to Yahoo Sports.

These numbers will change before Opening Day as many free agents still find themselves without a job as we near Valentine’s Day and more importantly pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training camps. Names like Tyler Clippard and Yovani Gallardo will simply continue to push these numbers higher and higher leaving many to wonder why so many young people are still choosing the NFL and NBA over Major League Baseball.

The #1 salary in Major League Baseball as it stands today is the Los Angeles Dodgers at $235 million if my numbers are correct while the New York Yankees come it at #2 with a $229 million team payroll. These salary figures come from Cots Baseball Contracts and Baseball Prospectus. What’s funny is neither of these two teams have dipped significantly into the free agent waters and in the case of the Yankees, not at all. Los Angeles’s biggest acquisitions were the Howie Kendrick re-sign and the additions of Scott Kazmir and Kenta Maeda.

Major League Baseball is now over a $10 billion and growing machine and it shows no signs of slowing down or letting up. There is an absolute influx of money in the game right now and with the Chicago Cubs television network on deck and the recent $1 billion TV deal with the St. Louis Cardinals the sky seems to be the limit on this thing. I couldn’t be prouder to be a part of it.