Dodgers' obscene tax bill after Tarik Skubal trade will have your jaw on the floor

As expected, the Los Angeles Dodgers traded for Tarik Skubal. Skubal landing in LA has been rumored for the better part of the past year, and naturally, the early takeaways are once again that the Dodgers are ruining baseball.

The Dodgers are certainly going to be propped up during MLB's labor dispute this offseason, but the Skubal trade is in a conversation by itself. In terms of the actual trade, the Dodgers didn't game the system. In fact, the Dodgers paid the steepest price for a rental that's ever been paid at the deadline.

That doesn't remove Skubal entirely from being part of the problem that those around baseball will raise. After the trade with the Tigers on Saturday, the Dodgers' luxury tax payroll is approaching $430 million. It's easily the highest mark in baseball, but even that doesn't tell the full story. In terms of the actual tax the Dodgers will be paying at the end of the season, it's now at $180 million.

Dodgers' Tarik Skubal trade comes with insane luxury tax bill

That is why so many are going to be up in arms about what the Dodgers have done this season. In their tunnel vision toward seeking a third consecutive World Series title, they have uprooted the system. They circumvented Kyle Tucker's market last offseason, resulting in Tucker's luxury tax hit for the 2026 season alone being over $100 million, and trading for Skubal adds to that stigma.

In case you're keeping track at home, the Dodgers' estimated tax bill at the end of season is larger than the payroll for nearly half of the teams in baseball. In some instances, like the Cleveland Guardians and Miami Marlins, the Dodgers' tax hit is more than double their respective payroll obligations for the season.

That is where the problem lies for baseball this offseason. Most of those teams are in small markets or, in the case of the Chicago White Sox, have owners that act with a small-market mentality. Dodgers detractors will argue that such a gap shouldn't exist. Now, where it loses some steam is that two of those teams are the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays. The Brewers and Rays have been among the best teams in baseball this season, and the Brewers are routinely at the top of the National League Central.

That's not to say that the system isn't broken, it certainly does need some tweaking. But the problems go far beyond just what the Dodgers have been doing.

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