The Los Angeles Dodgers, with their shrewd strategy of deferred contracts, don’t have the highest salary obligations in Major League Baseball this season, after all. That distinction belongs once again to the New York Mets, according to MLB’s present-day calculations, obtained by USA TODAY Sports. The Dodgers, thanks to heavily deferred contracts to Shohei Ohtani and some of their biggest stars, have an opening-day payroll of $321.3 million, second to the Mets’ payroll of $323.1 million. The Dodgers’ secret is the deferred payments that dramatically lower the present-day value of the contracts. Led by the bulk of Ohtani’s 10-year, $700 million contract, the deferrals also lower the club's luxury tax commitments and penalties. More on this year's MLB payrolls at the link in our bio. #MLB #payroll #salaries