The Brewers arrive in the NLCS with the kind of regular-season résumé that should demand respect. They won a franchise-record 103 games, but the market is still treating them like the underdog against the Dodgers.
That gap isn’t just about last October, when Milwaukee earned the National League’s top seed and got swept by Los Angeles on this same stage. It also shows up in the money.
The Dodgers’ 2026 adjusted payroll sits at $339.3 million, second in MLB behind only the Mets. Deferred money helps keep that number from climbing even higher. Before those adjustments, the 18 highest-paid Dodgers alone would total $389.9 million.
Shohei Ohtani leads the way at $70 million, followed by Blake Snell at $36.4 million and Kyle Tucker at $33 million. Tyler Glasnow is at $32.5 million, Tarik Skubal at $32 million, Mookie Betts at $30 million and Freddie Freeman at $27 million. Yoshinobu Yamamoto checks in at $20.3 million, Teoscar Hernandez at $19.7 million, and Edwin Diaz at $17 million.
The rest of the group includes Tanner Scott and Will Smith at $16 million apiece, Tommy Edman at $15.7 million, Blake Treinen at $13.5 million, Max Muncy at $12.3 million, Evan Phillips at $6.5 million, Kris Bubic at $6.2 million and Miguel Rojas at $5.5 million.
Milwaukee’s payroll tells a very different story. The Brewers are at $146.2 million in 2026, which works out to about 43 percent of the Dodgers’ figure. They also have no deferred money on any contract, so the real separation between the clubs is even wider.
Only seven Brewers are making at least $5 million this season. Christian Yelich is at $26 million, Brandon Woodruff at $22 million, Dustin May and Antonio Senzatela are both at $12 million, William Contreras is at $9.5 million, Jackson Chourio is at $7.3 million and Aaron Ashby is at $5.7 million.
That means only four Milwaukee players are at $10 million or more, and two of them are the trade deadline additions in May and Senzatela. Yelich is struggling, Woodruff is injured, and the roster simply doesn’t have the same kind of top-end spending power as Los Angeles.
The contrast gets sharper when you line the two teams up against the rest of the playoff field. The Dodgers are second in MLB payroll, behind the Mets, while the Brewers rank 19th. The Yankees are third at $308.34 million, the Phillies fourth at $291.95 million, the Braves sixth at $263.46 million, the Cubs seventh at $249.32 million, the Astros eighth at $239.76 million, the Padres ninth at $226.25 million and the Red Sox 10th at $207.99 million.
At the other end, the White Sox are at $103.33 million, the Rays at $95.62 million and the Guardians at $74.46 million.
So yes, the postseason field reflects plenty of big-market muscle: eight of the top 10 payroll teams made it in, and the Dodgers are chasing a three-peat with one of baseball’s deepest resource advantages. But the bracket also includes three of the four LCS teams in the bottom half of the payroll rankings, and the Mets - the No. 1 payroll team - didn’t make the postseason at all, with the caveat that the Dodgers have a higher active roster payroll in 2026.
In Other News...
Dodgers Still Have One Huge Shohei Ohtani Problem In October
Shohei Ohtanis October start with the Dodgers has not looked much like the middle of a postseason centerpiece. He has struggled at the plate in recent months, and the National League Division Series against the Braves offered more of the same, with Ohtani hitting .154 and driving in no runs. Even so, the Dodgers advanced to the National League Championship Series, which has bought them time to keep believing the offense from one of baseballs biggest stars will eventually show up when it matters most.
Dave Roberts and Andrew Friedman have both acknowledged the slump, but neither has sounded alarmed about where this could go from here. Their confidence is rooted in Ohtanis track record and the expectation that the bat will come around later in the postseason, which leaves the Dodgers in a familiar October spot: good enough to keep moving, but still waiting on the one player who can change the tone of the lineup in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Fans Have A New October Debate After Beating Atlanta
The Dodgers NLDS win over Atlanta gave fans plenty to dissect, and the conversation quickly turned to who stood out most in October. In a postseason series that featured multiple big performances, Los Angeles supporters weighed a dominant outing from Yoshinobu Yamamoto against the kind of all-around impact that Max Muncy brought with his power at the plate and his work in the field.
Yamamoto emerged as the fan favorite in a poll for NLDS MVP, with Muncy and Freddie Freeman also drawing support. The results say plenty about how Dodgers fans viewed the series: one camp leaned into the significance of Yamamotos Game 3 brilliance, while another saw Muncys three home runs and defensive value as just as central to the advance, setting up a familiar October debate as the club moves on. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Finally Know When Their Brewers Showdown Will Begin
Major League Baseball has set the stage for the 2024 League Championship Series, giving the Dodgers a date and a destination for the next step in October. The National League Championship Series opens Sunday, Oct. 11, and the American League Championship Series follows on Monday, Oct. 12, with the league also laying out the rest of the potential schedule and the broadcast homes for both rounds.
For the Dodgers, the new calendar means the wait is nearly over as they prepare for a trip to Milwaukee and a Brewers team that earned home-field advantage with a huge regular season. The full rhythm of the series is now in place, including possible game dates stretching deeper into the week, but the real answer fans care about is still ahead: how this matchup unfolds once the first pitch arrives. [Read more 🡒]