Juan Soto and Shohei Ohtani lead NL power shift as Dodgers and Mets reshape MLB dominance

In the last few years, there has been a major transformation in Major League Baseball. The National League (NL) has been outspending them ever since, and now it is being reflected in the league standings. Led by clubs like the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets, NL is currently winning against the American League (AL) in a majority of their contests. This change isn't accidental, it's the product of clever, costly decisions by teams that are willing to pay up for victory.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are the best example of how money can buy championships. In 2024, they signed phenom Shohei Ohtani to a $700 million contract and acquired other top players such as Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Their total payroll in 2025 is nearly $390 million. That’s more than many teams have spent in their entire history. The Dodgers also signed Blake Snell, the 2023 NL Cy Young winner, showing they’re not slowing down.

To cope with this enormous expenditure, the Dodgers employ something called "deferred payments." It simply implies that players receive some of their cash in a delayed fashion, so the team does not exceed payroll limits immediately. It's an intelligent method of constructing a strong team without violating the rules. And it paid off the Dodgers won the World Series and are favorites once again this year.
The Mets are doing the same thing. They signed Juan Soto for 15 years and $765 million, a record contract for a position player. Their $330 million or more payroll for 2025 demonstrates that they are as serious as the Dodgers about winning presently. Both demonstrate that spending cash if cleverly done translates to achievements on the playing field.

The National League's success has nothing to do with talent. It has much to do with spending more money than the American League. Paul Hembekides of ESPN noted that over the last eight years, the NL has invested $2 billion more than the AL. Where the AL grew payroll by merely 8%, the NL's payroll grew 36%. And that large differential is beginning to pay off.
With all that money being spent, NL teams have gotten better and deeper. They have more stars, stronger benches, and better pitching rotations. Teams such as the Dodgers and Mets no longer are developing slowly through prospects they are acquiring established players and trying to win now.
That's why the NL has beaten the AL head-to-head in six of the past eight years. And with teams still spending big, that trend doesn't appear to be slowing anytime soon.
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