MLB playoff results aren’t giving NY Mets owner Steve Cohen incentive to spend

Five teams are still alive with one of the Divisional Series left to settle. The Cleveland Guardians and Chicago White Sox play Game 4 in their best of 5 on Thursday. Regardless of who wins, a similar theme will follow into the Championship Round. New York Mets owner Steve Cohen’s internet search history surely has had him checking up on where they and the rest of the surviving playoff teams’ payrolls were at in 2026.

According to Spotrac, Cleveland’s $74.4 million was the lowest payroll in MLB and yet they’re now one win away from the ALCS. The White Sox were 24th at $103.3 million. It doesn’t stop with them. The Tampa Bay Rays (28th highest payroll) were at $95.6 million and the Milwaukee Brewers (19th highest payroll) spent $146.2 million. They took down the New York Yankees and San Diego Padres on Wednesday, a respective $308 million and $226 million payroll.

Now it’s only the Los Angeles Dodgers, second to the Mets with a $339 million payroll this past year, who are showing you can buy a championship. Cohen, now 0 for 6 in championship tries with zero World Series appearances after years of routinely having the highest or close to it payroll in the sport, can’t possibly believe all problems are solved by buying players.

Steve Cohen has the motivation to spend less on the Mets roster than ever before

It’s a financial mess the Mets are in right now. They already have a projected $286 million payroll for 2027. Many contracts end after the season which will help lower the payroll and get them out from under several of the penalties high-spending clubs suffer as a result. Cohen can’t possibly enjoy paying extra money when the result doesn’t even get the team a playoff run.

Mets fans have always appreciated Cohen’s willingness to spend even if the hires he has made and the players those people have signed went sideways. David Stearns was an architect behind who the 2026 Brewers are which is a reason why Cohen has yet to back down from his belief in the POBO. The problem is how slow and steady it has been. Only at the 2026 trade deadline have they managed to go fully in this direction. Previously, the Mets were kind of stuck in an attempt to rebuild the farm while trying to compete. They drove down the center yellow line rather than choosing a lane.

The Mets have no choice but to have a large payroll in 2027. Most, if not all, of the salaries they could possibly move would require some eating of the money.

Regardless of whether it’s the Guardians or White Sox, the combined salaries of the three teams left in the playoffs other than the Dodgers won’t even equal what the Mets paid their players in 2026. It’s about a million short.

The Mets have to be clever, which they haven’t been. They need to be pennywise in some places, a fact fans will need to accept. What Stearns has done clearly hasn’t worked and for a variety of reasons.

Cohen’s biggest asset has been his wallet. Enough may be enough for him when it comes to spending at such a high level. The influx of youthful talent added in there provides the spin the organization needs to lower payroll and maybe not get the public too outraged. Stearns clearly has the stronger track record when it comes to young or unknown talent. Anyone can sign Juan Soto if the owner approves. It’s finding a Luis Torrens, drafting a Carson Benge, and snagging a Huascar Brazoban then trading him for other prospects later that’ll be the bigger difference-making moves under this regime.

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