Record Riches: MLB Postseason Player Pool Swells to…
Major League Baseball announced the postseason shares for 2024, during which the total player pool of $129,092,159 smashing the previous year’s record. The Dodgers total share of pool, as World Series champions, was $46,473,177, with full postseason shares tabbed at $477,441 each.
The players postseason pool is derived from the gate receipts from the guaranteed length of all four rounds of the playoffs. Sixty percent of the first two games of each wild card series, minus travel expenses for the visiting team (because the series is only at one site) goes into the pool, as does 60 percent of the first three games of each Division Series, the first four games of each League Championship Series, and the first four games of the World Series.
Having the Dodgers (who averaged 53,116 attendance for their six postseason home games that went toward the pool) and Yankees (average 48,311 in their home games) make it all the way to the end, plus the exorbitant prices in the highly-demanded Dodgers-Yankees World Series, helped enhance the total players’ pool, which is up 19.8 from last year’s previous record pool of $107.8 million.
Here is how the 2024 postseason shares were distributed:
36 percent to the World Series winner (Dodgers)
24 percent to the World Series loser (Yankees)
12 percent each to the LCS losers (Mets, Guardians)
3.25 percent each to the Division Series losers (Padres, Phillies, Royals, Tigers)
0.75 percent each to the wild card series losers (Brewers, Braves, Astros, Orioles)
The Rangers last year had a full share value of $506,263, but gave out 64 full shares as part of their $38.8 million pool. The Dodgers this year had a pool of $46.74 million, and handed out 79 full shares at $477,440.70 each, 17.49 partial shares, plus miscellaneous cash awards that totaled $405,000.
Every player (and manager) on the team by June 1 and still eligible for the World Series are guaranteed a full share by major league rule. The rest of the players, plus two trainers and a strength and conditioning coach are subject to vote by the players. With a record 79 full shares, the Dodgers were liberal in this regard. We are reviewing 68 total players for the season, for example.
The cash awards are generally reserved for non-uniformed personnel and per the rule, “including, but not limited to, spring training coaches, traveling secretaries, clubhouse personnel, media relations personnel, scouts, and members of the grounds crew.”
To put the Dodgers’ full share in perspective, the major league minimum salary in 2024 was $740,000. For players who spent the year in between the minors and majors like Landon Knack, James Outman, or the ones who were called up late like Ben Casparius and Edgardo Henriquez, they ended up making more in the postseason share than they did in salary for the regular season.
