It was certainly a tumultuous Winter Meetings for the Mets. Their pursuit of Kyle Schwarber fell short, while two key members of the team’s core departed in free agency. As we wait to see what the Mets do in response to build out their 2026 roster, it’s worth checking in on the status of their payroll relative the various tax thresholds teams must navigate.

You can find the official rules on the competitive balance tax here. To summarize, any team over the first CBT threshold – set at $244M for 2026 – pays a 20% tax on all overages. That percentage escalates to 30% for repeat offenders, and grows to 50% for those who repeat in the tax for three or more consecutive seasons.

There are further thresholds for teams who blow past the first tax level. Spending $20M above the tax incurs a 12% s

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