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The Highest-Paid MLB Players 2026
After solidifying his status as the Babe Ruth of the 21st century with a second straight World Series ring and yet another MVP—becoming only the second MLB player ever to win the award three years in a row—Shohei Ohtani is also making history off the field.
The Los Angeles Dodgers’ two-way sensation is set to collect an estimated $127 million in 2026 before taxes and agents’ fees, a record for a baseball player. The vast majority of the payday—an estimated $125 million—comes from endorsement deals, licensing, memorabilia and other business ventures, with roughly two dozen sponsors in the United States and Ohtani’s native Japan paying a heavy premium to associate with him.
Since Forbes began tracking athletes’ earnings in 1990, only one has surpassed the 31-year-old Ohtani’s projected off-field total in a single year while still active in his sport: MMA star Conor McGregor, who brought in an estimated $158 million over the 12 months ending in May 2021, almost all of it from the sale of his Irish whiskey brand, Proper No. Twelve.
Ohtani has reached that financial stratosphere on a much more conventional route, through partnerships with American brands such as Fanatics and New Balance, which has given him a signature shoe line, and with a long list of Japanese companies. Japan Airlines, for instance, uses a specially painted “Dream Sho Jet” for some routes, and Kowa markets both its pain relief patches and Syncron sports drinks with Ohtani.
Throw in the $2 million Ohtani will get directly from the Dodgers this season—with $68 million in salary deferred for another decade as part of the ten-year, $700 million contract he signed with Los Angeles ahead of the 2024 season—and the major leagues’ only everyday designated hitter/pitcher has a comfortable lead on MLB’s second-highest-paid player this season, New York Yankees outfielder Cody Bellinger, who is set to rake in an estimated $56.5 million.
Combined, MLB’s ten highest-paid players are expected to make $537 million in 2026, the second-highest figure Forbes has measured since it began publishing a baseball earnings ranking in 2011.
This year’s total is a 7% drop from 2025’s $576 million, but the decline is almost entirely tied to New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto, who set an MLB record last year with his $126.9 million haul but now falls to $51.9 million—and No. 4 in the ranking—as his $75 million signing bonus comes off the books.
Off the field, this year’s top ten sets a new high at $144 million, up 20% from 2025 and an incredible 863% from just four years ago. That, of course, is all thanks to Ohtani, whose $125 million is more than six times the $20 million the other nine highest-paid MLB players are set to make from their business endeavors—combined. Marketing insiders say Ohtani has effectively monopolized baseball-crazed Japan, even with his Dodgers teammates Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki becoming rising stars.
Advertisers “are in the business of attention, and it’s winner-takes-all,” says Shoto Zhu, CEO of Tokyo-based SponsorForce. “Whoever catches more eyes takes everything.”
The marketing prowess enabled Ohtani to accept his team-friendly playing contract in December 2023, which in turn has helped the Dodgers open their checkbook to surround him with other All-Stars, including their newest prize, Kyle Tucker. The 29-year-old outfielder makes his debut on the Forbes MLB earnings list as baseball’s third-highest-paid player with $56 million, mostly from the $54 million signing bonus that came with the four-year, $240 million contract he signed in January.
The ranking’s other two newcomers are Bellinger (No. 2 at $56.5 million), who re-signed with the New York Yankees in the off-season, and Bo Bichette (No. 6, $42.4 million), who left the Toronto Blue Jays in free agency for the New York Mets. In fact, the list’s six highest-paid players all suit up for the Dodgers, the Yankees or the Mets, who have MLB’s three highest payrolls. (Another Yankee, pitcher Gerrit Cole, comes in at No. 10 this year with an estimated $37.5 million.)
The concentration of riches has become a lightning rod for other team owners who are lobbying for a salary cap to help ensure competitive balance (as well as line their pockets). The debate is intensifying ahead of the expiration of the league’s collective bargaining agreement with players in December, setting up a renegotiation that could threaten the 2027 season.
“If the owners are dead set on a salary cap and they will accept nothing else, then I think that’ll eventually happen, but we’ll miss at least one full season of baseball,” says Michael Haupert, a professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse who co-chairs the Society for American Baseball Research’s business of baseball committee.
Haupert expects owners to offer to substantially increase the $780,000 minimum salary for big leaguers along with minor league paychecks to try to get a majority of players on board, at the expense of the top 1%. But this off-season provided one financial counterpoint when ace pitcher Tarik Skubal won his arbitration case against the Detroit Tigers and was awarded a $32 million salary for this year, shattering the previous high figure decided by an arbitration panel, $19.9 million.
What baseball’s payrolls look like next year may be uncertain, but at least for 2026, major leaguers continue to swing for the financial fences.
MLB’S 10 HIGHEST-PAID PLAYERS 2026
#1. $127 million
Shohei Ohtani
Age: 31 | Position: Designated Hitter/Pitcher | Team: Los Angeles Dodgers | On-Field: $2 million • Off-Field: $125 million
The four-time MVP belted a career-high 55 home runs last year and returned to the mound for the first time since undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2023, pitching effectively through the second half of the season and the playoffs. Ohtani made unprecedented feats look routine, like when he pitched six scoreless innings and also hit three home runs in the Dodgers’ pennant-clinching game against the Milwaukee Brewers. It’s no wonder that brands are still clamoring for his services, and he recently added a partnership hawking Japanese firm Kirin’s immune health supplements to his long list of sponsors. With support like that, Ohtani’s $127 million estimated earnings will exceed the combined totals of the Nos. 2 and 3 players on this year’s Forbes list, with Cody Bellinger and Kyle Tucker set to bank $112.5 million between them.
#2. $56.5 million
Cody Bellinger
Age: 30 | Position: Outfielder | Team: New York Yankees | On-Field: $55 million • Off-Field: $1.5 million
Bellinger’s first year in the Bronx in 2025 was his best season since his 2019 MVP campaign with the Dodgers, giving him the opportunity to opt out of his contract to become a free agent and re-sign with the Yankees in January on a five-year, $162.5 million contract that included a $20 million signing bonus. Last April, as he made his debut in pinstripes, Bellinger partnered with cosmetics brand Revlon for a social media video about his routine to comply with his new team’s facial-hair grooming policy. The 30-year-old outfielder and first baseman is also backed by brands including Louisville Slugger and men’s jewelry brand Jaxxon.
#3. $56 million
Kyle Tucker
Age: 29 | Position: Right Fielder | Team: Los Angeles Dodgers | On-Field: $55 million • Off-Field: $1 million
One of MLB’s most consistent outfielders, coming off four straight All-Star selections, Tucker was courted by several of the league’s biggest spenders in his first off-season on the free-agent market. He chose the Dodgers in January, with his four-year, $240 million contract giving him a massive raise from the $16.5 million salary he earned in 2025 during his lone season with the Chicago Cubs. The new deal includes $30 million in deferred money but also came with a $64 million signing bonus—$54 million being paid this year and the remaining $10 million coming in 2027. Off the field, Tucker’s partners include Anheuser-Busch, baseball cap maker New Era and financial software firm Sage.
#4. $51.9 million
Juan Soto
Age: 27 | Position: Outfielder | Team: New York Mets | On-Field: $46.9 million • Off-Field: $5 million
One year down, 14 to go on the record $765 million contract Soto signed with the Mets in December 2024. The 27-year-old, who is set to move from right field to left in 2026, was effective in his first year in Queens after team owner Steve Cohen poached him from the Yankees, hitting 43 home runs and posting a National League-leading .396 on-base percentage to finish third in MVP voting. Soto is also among baseball’s most successful players off the field, working with brands including Under Armour and energy drink Celsius, as well as beer maker Presidente and Banreservas bank in his native Dominican Republic.
#5. $46.1 million
Aaron Judge
Age: 33 | Position: Right Fielder | Team: New York Yankees | On-Field: $40.1 million • Off-Field: $6 million
In a tight American League MVP race last season, Judge beat out Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh to claim the award for the third time in four years after hitting 53 home runs while leading MLB in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. As he enters the fourth season of a nine-year, $360 million deal with the Yankees, the face of the league’s most valuable franchise—now worth $8.5 billion—makes more off the field than any player on Forbes’ MLB earnings list not named Ohtani, partnering with brands such as Polo Ralph Lauren and Logan Paul’s Prime Hydration.
#6. $42.4 million
Bo Bichette
Age: 28 | Position: Infielder | Team: New York Mets | On-Field: $42 million • Off-Field: $0.4 million
Playing through a knee injury, Bichette hit a go-ahead home run off Shohei Ohtani in the 2025 World Series’ epic Game 7 that could have made him a hero for life in Toronto, but the Blue Jays couldn’t hold the lead. An off-season payday might help numb the sting of that defeat. Bichette signed with the Mets in January for three years and $126 million, with most of his earnings this year coming via a $40 million signing bonus. After spending all seven of his years in Toronto as a shortstop, Bichette—whose off-field partners include Tucci bats, Junk headbands and Cadillac—is set to move to third base for the Mets, next to Francisco Lindor.
#7. $42.2 million
Zack Wheeler
Age: 35 | Position: Pitcher | Team: Philadelphia Phillies | On-Field: $42 million • Off-Field: $0.2 million
As the league’s highest-paid full-time pitcher—and the highest-ranking player who doesn’t play his home games in New York or Los Angeles—Wheeler is on track to return to the field in April after his strong 2025 season was cut short by a blood clot near his shoulder in August. The Phillies’ 35-year-old ace, who had thoracic outlet decompression surgery to repair the issue in September, turned heads in June when he told the Athletic he intends to retire when his contract expires after the 2027 season, but at spring training this year, he sounded less certain about those plans. Off the field, Wheeler is backed by Nike and Fanatics.
#8. $39 million
Mike Trout
Age: 34 | Position: Outfielder | Team: Los Angeles Angels | On-Field: $35.5 million • Off-Field: $3.5 million
Trout played 130 games last year—his highest total since 2019 in a Hall of Fame-caliber career that has been derailed by injuries—and while his production continues to decline, with a .232 batting average in 2025, he hit 26 home runs to cross 400 in the majors. The 34-year-old, who is hoping to return to center field this season after a year in right and as a designated hitter, is set to make $35.5 million every year through 2030 on his contract with the Angels, and his signature Nike shoe line remains popular among his peers and with youth baseball players nationwide. He is also set to open Trout National—a golf club in his hometown of Vineland, New Jersey, that was laid out by Tiger Woods’ design firm—in April.
#9. $38.3 million
Jacob deGrom
Age: 37 | Position: Pitcher | Team: Texas Rangers | On-Field: $38 million • Off-Field: $0.3 million
Like Mike Trout, deGrom is coming off his healthiest season in years, pitching 172 ⅔ innings across 30 starts in 2025 after failing to reach 100 innings in his five previous seasons (including the pandemic-shortened 2020). The 37-year-old ace, who has another two guaranteed seasons remaining on the five-year, $185 million deal he signed with the Rangers in December 2022, also earned his first All-Star selection since 2021 and finished in the top ten in Cy Young Award voting, with a 2.97 ERA. Off the field, deGrom has partnerships with Nike and Rawlings.
#10. $37.5 million
Gerrit Cole
Age: 35 | Position: Pitcher | Team: New York Yankees | On-Field: $36 million • Off-Field: $1.5 million
Cole missed the entire 2025 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery last March and isn’t expected to make his regular-season debut this year until May or June, but he returned to the mound to pitch one scoreless inning for the Yankees in a spring training game against the Red Sox last week. The return of the six-time All-Star, who is sponsored by menswear brand Untuckit as well as Rawlings and Fanatics, will be critical for a Yankees pitching staff that struggled without him in a lopsided playoff series loss to the Blue Jays in October.
METHODOLOGY
The Forbes ranking of baseball’s highest-paid players reflects on-field earnings for the 2026 MLB season, including base salaries, signing bonuses and deferred payments, for contracts signed as of March 23. National team compensation tied to the World Baseball Classic is also included; however, MLB contract incentives that are based on individual or team performance are omitted. On-field figures are rounded to the nearest $100,000.
The off-field earnings estimates are determined through conversations with industry insiders and reflect annual cash from endorsements, licensing, appearances and memorabilia, as well as cash returns from any businesses in which the athlete has a significant interest. Investment income such as interest payments or dividends is not included, but Forbes does account for payouts from equity stakes athletes have sold. Forbes does not deduct for taxes or agents’ fees.
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