MLB qualifying offer: Predicting which players will receive the QO and how the $22 million deal works

The 2025 World Series is complete and the 2025-26 offseason is already underway. More than 100 players became free agents the day after the World Series ended and soon teams will have to make decisions about contract options and qualifying offers. MLB 2025-26 offseason key dates: Free agency, QO, awards, winter meetings, Hall of Fame announcement and more Mike Axisa

The qualifying offer entitles teams to draft-pick compensation in the event they lose a free agent to another team. The QO is a one-year deal set at the average of the top 125 salaries in baseball; this offseason, it's worth a record $22.025 million, per the Associated Press . That payday is up from $21.05 million last offseason and $20.325 million the offseason before that.

Teams have until five days after the end