Houston Astros: Postseason Payout Shares Revealed

The players’ pool for the 2015 postseason has been revealed. How much did the Houston Astros come away with?

Even though the Houston Astros fell short of their ultimate goal of capturing their elusive first World Series championship, the team still managed not to come away empty handed. And no, I’m not talking valuable experience in the postseason. The reward is cold, hard cash.

Per a report from Brian McTaggert of MLB.com, the team will split the sum of a players’ pool $2,271,169.85 between multiple members of the organization. The Astros decided to distribute 53 full shares along with 8.5 partial shares and nine cash awards. Each full share will be worth $36,783.25.

Not too shabby for a team that wasn’t expected to even qualify for the postseason. In fact, their postseason run was impressive in their own way as the team bested the New York Yankees in the one-game playoff and pushed the eventual champion, the Kansas City Royals, to five games from appearing in the American League Division Series. And for those wondering at home, the Royals were rewarded a players’ pool of $25,157,573.73, which equates to $370,069.03 per full share, with the team issuing 58 full shares, 8.37 partial shares, and 50 cash awards.

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Here are the remaining playoffs team’s total players’ pools followed by the value per full share and their breakdowns via an article from Mike Oz of Big League Stew:

New York Mets: $16,771,715.82 total value; $300,757.78 value of each full share. 44 full shares, 11.05 partial shares, and 25 cash awards
Chicago Cubs: $8,385,857.91 total value; $122,327.59 value of each full share. 60 full shares, 8.25 partial shares, and 13 cash awards
Toronto Blue Jays: $8,385,857.91 total value; $141,834.47 value of each full share. 46 full shares, 12.25 partial shares, and 27 cash awards
Los Angeles Dodgers: $2,271,169.85 total value; $34,168.74 value of each full share. 48 full shares, 17.18 partial shares, and 11 cash awards
St. Louis Cardinals: $2,271,169.85 total value; $34,223.65 value of each full share. 59 full shares, 7.143 partial shares, and two cash awards
Texas Rangers: $2,271,169.85 total value; $34,074.40 value of each full share. 55 full shares, 11.125 partial shares, and 13 cash awards
New York Yankees: $1,048,232.24 total value; $13,979.99 value of each full share. 59 full shares and 15.98 partial shares
Pittsburgh Pirates: $1,048,232.24 total value; $15,884.20 value of each full share. 57 full shares, 8.93 partial shares, and one cash award

And for those that do not know, the players’ pool is calculated by certain percentages of the gate receipts from the various stages of the postseason. For example, 50 percent of the Wild Card games gate receipts are allotted to the players’ pool. 60 percent is then applied to the first three games of the Division Series, followed by the first four games of the League Championship Series and the World Series.

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I must admit it is cool to see the Astros involved in the postseason players’ pool and for the players to be rewarded for their hard work this season. Of course, this should only leave the players more hungry than ever to receive the champion’s portion of the pool. However, that should be backseat motivation when compared to basking in the glory of winning the World Series. Just ask the Royals, they can tell you all about that.

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