Last month the Atlanta Braves clinched the franchise's fourth ever World Series championship, and its second since relocating to Atlanta in 1966. The Braves bested the Houston Astros in six games despite losing Ronald Acuña Jr. to a knee injury in July and Charlie Morton to a broken leg in Game 1.
To the victors go the spoils, and according to the Associated Press, the Braves will split a known record $32.57 million postseason pool this year. I say known record because MLB never did announce the postseason shares last season. The previous record was a $31.75 million pool shared by the Red Sox in 2018. The Nationals' pool was $29.11 million in 2019.
The Braves split that $32.57 million pool into 66 full shares, 14.25 partial shares, and 38 cash awards. Each full share was worth $397,391, third highest ever behind the 2017 Astros ($438,902) and 2018 Red Sox ($416,838). Shares are given not only to players and coaches, but also support staff and other members of the traveling party.
All told, the 10 postseason teams split a $90.47 million postseason pool this season, which is the largest pool on record. Here are some more details from the Associated Press:
A full share for the AL champion Astros came to $258,373. Houston divided $21.71 million into 67 full shares, 16.59 partial shares and three cash awards.
The players' pool broke the previous mark of $88 million in 2018.
Full shares this year were worth $137,644 for Boston, $112,701 for the Dodgers, $43,729 for the Chicago White Sox, $38,336 for San Francisco, $33,973 for Tampa Bay, $27,561 for Milwaukee, $17,048 for St. Louis and $15,928 for the New York Yankees.
The total postseason pool includes 50 percent of the gate receipts from the two Wild Card Games and 60 percent of the first three games of each League Division Series, and the first four games of each League Championship Series and the World Series.
Last year MLB and the MLBPA agreed to an expanded 16-team postseason format before the season. As part of the agreement, the players received a $50 million postseason pool plus a share of the gate receipts. Only the National League Championship Series and World Series were played with fans in attendance last year, and they were played with limited attendance.
