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The total players pool for the 2021 postseason, with a total of $90.47 million going to the players, Major League Baseball announced. As runner-ups in the NLCS, the Dodgers’ pool is $10.86 million, with each full share valued at $112,701.
The players pool is determined by a percentage of gate receipts from all rounds of the playoffs, derived from 50 percent of the wild card games, 60 percent from the first three games of each Division Series, 60 percent from the first four games from both League Championship Series and World Series.
With no fans until the NLCS and World Series during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, there weren’t the usual gate receipts for MLB owners to divide with the players. But as part of negotiations between the league and the players association that added an expanded wild card round, players last year were guaranteed a total pool of at least $50 million.
The $90,468,645 total players pool for 2021 represents an 11.9-percent increase from 2019. It’s the largest players pool in MLB history, besting the previous mark of $88.2 million.
World Series winners get 36 percent of the pool, which this year means $32.6 million to be split among Atlanta players. The Fall Classic runner-up gets 24 percent, and each LCS losing team gets 12 percent. The four teams that lost Division Series get 3.25 percent each, and the wild card game losers get 1.5 percent each.
By the end of the regular season, each team’s players vote on how to distribute their postseason money. The Dodgers total pool is $10,856,237, with 80 full shares awarded. The remaining $1.84 million is split between 15.75 partial shares and 13 cash awards.
Dodgers postseason shares, 2013-21
| Year | Total player pool | Dodgers finish | LA pool | LA full share amount | LA full shares |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Total player pool | Dodgers finish | LA pool | LA full share amount | LA full shares |
| 2013 | $62,683,966.80 | lost NLCS | $7,522,076.02 | $108,037.06 | 58 |
| 2014 | $62,026,461.86 | lost NLDS | $2,015,860.01 | $31,542.85 | 54 |
| 2015 | $69,882,149.26 | lost NLDS | $2,271,169.85 | $34,168.74 | 48 |
| 2016 | $76,627,827.09 | lost NLCS | $9,195,339.25 | $123,741.24 | 65 |
| 2017 | $84,500,432.15 | lost WS | $20,280,103.72 | $259,722.14 | 65 |
| 2018 | $88,188,633.49 | lost WS | $21,165,272.04 | $262,027.49 | 67 |
| 2019 | $80,861,145.74 | lost NLDS | $2,627,987.24 | $32,427.60 | 60 |
| 2020 | $50,000,000.00 | won WS | $18,000,000.00 | unknown | unknown |
| 2021 | $90,468,645.00 | lost NLCS | $10,856,437.00 | $112,701.00 | 80 |
Specific 2020 postseason players pool info is unknown, but for winning the World Series the Dodgers would have received 36 percent of the total pool. A $50 million pool would have meant $18 million for Dodgers players, putting them close to the total team pool for the World Series runner-ups in 2017 ($20.3 million) and 2018 ($21.2 million).