MLB payrolls drop 4% in '21, down to lowest level in six years

MLB payrolls dropped 4% in '21 compared to the league's last full season, and the $4.05B total was the "lowest in a fully completed year" since '15, according to Ronald Blum of the AP. Payrolls are down 4.6% from their "record high of just under" $4.25B in '17, the first year of the just-expired CBA. The Dodgers led MLB with a $262M payroll in '21 and "were hit with a $32.65 million luxury tax bill Monday." The Padres were the "only other club assessed a tax, charged $1.29 million." Payrolls "rose steadily" from $3B in '11 to $4.07B in '16, then reached a high in '17 before receding slightly to $4.2B each in '18 and ’19. Because of the pandemic and the resulting shortened season, salaries were paid at a 60/162 rate in '20, dropping payrolls to $1.75B (AP, 12/21).