Of the last four teams standing in the post-season, three of them have MLB's highest payrolls. Cot's Contracts has two payroll lists, one called Year End 40-man and the other called CB Tax 40-man. In the first list it goes Mets ($341.5M), Yankees ($303.8M), and Dodgers ($288.3M). Figuring in the Competitive Balance Tax keeps the Mets ($356.2M) in the top spot with the Dodgers ($351.7M) and Yankees ($314.8M) switching places.
The three highest-spending teams in the two biggest baseball markets are in the League Championship Series.