The Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers will play a winner-take-all Game 7 of the 2017 World Series on Wednesday night. The game is set to start at 8:20 p.m. ET at Dodger Stadium.
The two clubs are competing for more than the Commissioner's Trophy. A sizable winner's purse is on the line.
All players who competed in the postseason will receive a playoff bonus, but the amount depends on how far their team advanced. The further they made it, the bigger the share they earn.
According to the MLB, "the players' pool" — which is divided among the 10 postseason clubs — "is 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."
Here's a breakdown of the percentage of the pool that goes to each team:
World Series Champion: 36 percent
World Series Runner-Up: 24 percent
League Championship Series Runners-Up (2): 24 percent (12 percent each)
Division Series Runners-Up (4): 13 percent (3.2 percent each)
Wild Card Game Runners-Up (2): 3 percent (1.5 percent each)
Last year, players earned a record $76.6 million from postseason bonuses, and the winning Chicago Cubs team split a record $27.6 million. The World Series runner-up, the Cleveland Indians, split $18.4 million.
Once the money has been divvied out to each club, it's up to the players to decide who gets a share of their team's winnings.
"Each year, as stipulated in the basic agreement between the players union and Major League Baseball, teams headed to the postseason hold a meeting to distribute shares," The New York Times reports. "The money is designated in 25 full shares, but the players may divide the shares to include those who played during the year but were not on the playoff roster, as well as coaches, trainers and strength coaches."
Plus, "other nonuniformed personnel, like clubhouse attendants, chefs, public relations staff, security guards, bus drivers and grounds crew members — a precedent set in 1903 — can be awarded some of the cash."
In 2016, the Cubs split their winnings into 66 fulls shares (worth $368,872 each), 8.7 partial shares and four cash awards.
As for this year, it's too soon to tell how big the postseason pot will be, but Game 7 is slated to be one of the most expensive tickets in baseball history. The average ticket was bought for $1,795, ESPN reports: "While it falls some $300 short of last year's Game 7 between the Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians, it more than doubles the price paid on StubHub for a Game 7 ticket in 2014 (Giants-Royals, $887) and nearly triples what was paid for a Game 7 in 2011 (Cardinals-Rangers, $696)."
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