Now you can call them the Broke-land Dodgers.

Cash-strapped Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt placed the storied baseball franchise, which moved from Brooklyn after the 1957 season, into Chapter 11 bankruptcy yesterday, following weeks of wrangling with baseball Commissioner Bud Selig over control of the team.

The beleaguered club, whose financial operations were taken over by Major League Baseball in April, went bust after Selig put the kibosh on a last-ditch effort by McCourt to ink a $1.7 billion TV rights deal with Fox (whose parent, News Corp., also owns The Post) last week. The deal contained an upfront payout that would have cured some of the team’s ills.

The Dodgers’ owner doesn’t have enough cash to make this week’s payroll of at least $20 million, and would have risked having Major League Baseball take over full ownership had he not filed for bankruptcy court protection.

The Chapter 11 move tarnishes the image of one of the most valuable sports franchises whose roots extend to Brooklyn’s now-defunct Ebbets Field, where in 1947 Jackie Robinson famously broke the color barrier in professional baseball, and magnifies a growing financial headache for Selig.

A second top National League franchise, the Mets, is also in the dollar doldrums. The Amazin’s have been forced to sell a minority stake after owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz lost hundreds of millions of dollars to Ponzi king Bernie Madoff.

McCourt blamed Selig for his immediate strife.

“He’s turned his back on the Dodgers, treated us differently, and forced us to the point we find ourselves in today,” McCourt said in a written statement.

However, Selig has locked horns with McCourt for what he views as the team owners using the 127-year-old franchise as a personal piggybank.

Indeed, McCourt’s plans were to use at least $10 million of the proceeds from the TV rights deal to pay for a nasty divorce with his ex-wife, Jamie, and “personal use,” according to court papers.

Divorce documents also show that the McCourts have tapped the baseball franchise for more than $100 million to fund personal investments from 2004 to 2009.

The couple filed for divorce in October 2009, triggering a contentious legal battle that could be wrapped up in early August, when a judge determines whether Jamie has legal claim to half the franchise.

With the Chapter 11 filing, the Dodgers obtained a $150 million debtor-in-possession loan — and are paying a JPMorgan Chase-backed hedge fund roughly 10 percent interest rate on the loan.

According to court papers, top creditors of the team are: Retired slugger Manny Ramirez, owed about $21 million; former right fielder Andruw Jones, $11 million; and, shortstop Rafael Furcal, $3.72 million. mark.decambre@nypost.com