The Washington Nationals’ exit in the National League Division Series likely still stings for some, but the players and coaches reaped the monetary benefits of simply making it that far on Monday when their postseason shares were announced.
The Nationals’ share of the overall pool was $2,124,312.75. A sum which they decided to divvy up into 49 full shares, 6.65 partial shares and three “cash awards.” A full share was worth $37,045.32.
The 2012 players’ pool was valued at $65,363,469.22, a number formed from 50 percent of the gate receipts from the Wild Card games, 60 percent of the gate receipts from the first three games of the Division Series, 60 percent of the gate receipts from the first four games of the League Championship Series and 60 percent of the gate receipts from the first four games of the World Series.
For the Nationals, this means that everyone who was voted a full share will be getting a “holiday bonus,” if you will. For some players, whose usual paychecks are far larger than that, it likely won’t prove to be a huge difference maker in their annual income. But for players who made the major league minimum (which last season was just over $480,000) and coaches, it could be a significant boost.
The Nationals also got what was perhaps an unwelcome reminder of some of what they lost when the St. Louis Cardinals came back to win Game 5 of the NLDS. The pool for making it to — but losing as the Cardinals did — in the NLCS was $7,843,616.31. If they’d doled out 49 full shares from that pool, each full share would’ve likely been worth over $150,000, a nearly $110,000 difference.
The World Series Champion San Francisco Giants’ shares checked in at a record $377,002.64 for each of their 50 full portions, out of a pool of $23,530,848.92. The AL Champion Detroit Tigers’ pool was $15,687,232.61 for 48 full shares of $284,274.50.
