NEW YORK (AP) - A full postseason share for the World Series champion San Francisco Giants was worth a record $377,003, breaking the mark that had stood since the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals.
In the first year of the expansion of the playoffs from eight teams to 10, the players' pool was a record $65.36 million, Major League Baseball said Monday. The previous mark of $59.1 million came in 2009.
The Giants split $23.5 million, voting 50 full shares, partial shares equivalent to another 11.1, and 12 cash awards. All-Star outfielder Melky Cabrera, suspended for the final 45 games of the regular season and the division series, automatically received a full share without his teammates having to make a decision.
Under baseball's joint drug agreement, he was eligible for his share because his suspension ended in time for him to be on the active roster for a majority of the Giants' postseason games, even though San Francisco decided not to use him. Under Major League Rule 45, he gets a full share because he was with the team from June 1 on.
Cabrera, the All-Star game MVP, became a free agent last week and agreed to a $16 million, two-year contract with Toronto.
San Francisco's full share was up from $323,170 for the 2011 champion Cardinals and $317,631 on the 2010 Giants.
A full share on the AL champion Tigers was worth $284,275, up from $251,516 for last year's Texas Rangers.
The players' pool included 50 percent of the gate receipts from the two wild card games, and 60 percent from the first three games of each division series and the first four games of each league championship series and the World Series.
Full shares were worth $122,558 for the Cardinals, $115,065 for the New York Yankees, $37,865 for the Cincinnati Reds, $37,045 for the Washington Nationals, $34,826 for the Baltimore Orioles, $34,325 for the Oakland Athletics, $19,609 for the Atlanta Braves and $16,999 for the Rangers.
Shares are split among the 10 postseason teams. In the past, they were divided among the eight playoff teams and the four second-place teams that failed to reach the postseason.
