The Major League Baseball qualifying offer will rise to approximately $20.5 million for players on the upcoming free-agent market, The Post has learned.

An exact figure must be agreed to by MLB and the MLB Players Association no later than 10 days after the 2023 regular season ends.

The Post has been told, however, that the mean of the top 125 salaries from 2023 (the formula for calculating the qualifying offer) will be very close to $20.5 million.

That would make it a record for a process that began in 2012. The previous high was last offseason, when the qualifying offer was $19.65 million.

Fourteen players were tendered qualifying offers following the 2022 season, with Joc Pederson (Giants) and Martin Perez (Rangers) accepting.

The qualifying offer has been extended to 124 players in its history and just 13 of them have accepted that one-year offer.

It has become more commonplace recently for a player or two to accept than it was in the early years of the process.

The last time no player accepted was after the 2017 season.

For many teams, making the qualifying offer has been a no-brainer because they could be relatively certain the player would not accept and they would gain a draft pick in compensation.

That pick would come either after the first round or after competitive-balance round B, depending on several factors, including the size of the contract and the revenue and luxury-tax status of the organization that is losing the free agent.

So, for example, you can expect qualifying offers for Shohei Ohtani (Angels), Blake Snell (Padres), Cody Bellinger (Cubs) and Aaron Nola (Phillies).

The Twins, with Sonny Gray, and the Blue Jays, with Matt Chapman, are probable.

Will the Padres do it with a reliever, Josh Hader? Probably?

Will the Marlins qualify Jorge Soler if he opts out? What about the Phillies and Rhys Hoskins or the Mariners and Teoscar Hernandez?

Free agents who changed teams during the season, such as Jordan Montgomery and Lucas Giolito, cannot be tendered the qualifying offer.

A player who previously has been tendered the qualifying offer, such as Eduardo Rodriguez, Hyun-jin Ryu and Marcus Stroman, cannot have it a second time.

Teams have until five days after the World Series concludes to make qualifying offers.

A player has a week after that to accept or reject the qualifying offer, providing a period for the player to solicit interest from outside teams and gauge whether there is enough interest to forgo the guaranteed one-year deal for the next season.