The 2026 MLB Draft has a different feel to it for many reasons, including the Dodgers having their smallest bonus pool ever and the timing of the festivities themselves.
Rather than starting on Sunday or Monday as has been the norm ever since Major League Baseball moved the draft to align with the All-Star break, this time the draft will start on Saturday. The 20-round affair was shortened from three days to two last year and that schedule remains, which means the 2026 draft will conclude on Sunday,
before any of the major league All-Star events have even happened.
Dodgers bonus pool
The Dodgers signing Edwin Díaz and Kyle Tucker, both free agents who declined qualifying offers, meant the Dodgers forfeited four early draft picks. They lost their second- and fifth-round selections for signing Díaz, then dropped third- and sixth-round picks once Tucker was brought into the fold.
Couple that with the Dodgers blowing well past the third competitive balance tax threshold last season, which dropped their first round pick 10 slots to 40th overall, the Dodgers have the lowest bonus pool of any MLB team this year, and their lowest-ever bonus pool in the 15 years of the recommended slot value system.
Draft bonus pools are derived from the total recommended slot values for every pick through the end of round 10.
Every signing bonus from the first 10 rounds count against the bonus pool, plus any signing bonus over $150,000 for any player drafted in the 11th round or later. Teams can spend up to five percent over their draft bonus pool and pay only a 75 percent tax on the overage. Any spending more than five percent over the bonus pool triggers more punitive penalties, including forfeiture of future draft picks. To date, no MLB team under the current slotting system has spent enough to trigger loss of draft picks.
How to watch
The first 135 picks of the draft happens on Saturday, which includes the first four rounds plus all competitive balance rounds, compensation picks, and prospect promotion incentive selections.
Saturday’s television and streaming coverage is fragmented, with NBC and Peacock showing the first 10 picks after a preview show, followed by MLB Network televising picks 11-40, that final selection belonging to the Dodgers.
MLB.com and MLB.tv will stream everything beginning with pick 11 through the end of the 20th round on Sunday. Day 2 is a nonstop ride, with 16 rounds all on one day.
Saturday, July 11 (rounds 1-4)
11 a.m. PT: Picks 1-10 (NBC, Peacock)
11:30 a.m: Picks 11-40 (MLB Network)
Streaming from 11th pick through round 4 on MLB.com and MLB.tv
Saturday, July 12 (rounds 5-20)
8:30 a.m. PT: MLB.com, MLB.tv
The Dodgers have two selections on Saturday (first round, 40th overall; and fourth round, 132nd overall), and 14 on Sunday.
