The Major League Baseball playoffs are off to a hot start with star power, close division series and rising TV ratings. Fox, which will host the World Series, is excited about the prospect of the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees facing off in the Fall Classic with stars Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge.

Every player wants to make it to the World Series, but if his team doesn’t make it, they should also fight for this match.

A Yankees-Dodgers World Series would not only generate the highest TV ratings but also produce record payouts for players based on how the postseason bonus pool works. The formula is based on postseason ticket revenue, and the Yankees and Dodgers consistently generate the two highest ticket revenues in sports.

The collective bargaining agreement establishes the split with the pool drawn from the minimum number of games in each series (two games in the Wild Card round, three in the Division Series and four each in the League Championship Series and the World Series). The pool consists of 60% of the entry fees from each of these games.

The money will be distributed to players on teams that made it to the postseason within 30 days of the end of the World Series. The winner of the World Series receives 36% of the pool, while the runner-up receives 24%. The two LCS losers share 24%, the four teams that lost in the Division Series share 13%, and the four WC losers share 3%.

Teams can divide their share of the pool however they want. Last year it paid out a record $107.8 million, a tick more than 2022’s $107.5 million. The World Series-winning Texas Rangers received $38.8 million and voted to distribute 64 full shares valued at $506,263 each, plus 12.56 partial shares and an additional $48,000 in cash awards.‌ A full share for the runner-up Arizona Diamondbacks was from the $25.9 million distribution. Dollars each worth $313,634.

Other team payouts in 2023: Houston ($173,187 per player), Philadelphia ($171,184), Baltimore ($43,942), Atlanta ($43,801), Minnesota ($42,859), Dodgers ($36,929), Miami ($10,154 ), Toronto ($9,592), Tampa Bay ($8,728) and Milwaukee ($8,336).

The payouts don’t change the sport’s top earners, with the top 15 expected to earn a combined $647 million from salaries and endorsements this year. Still, it’s a boost for the large number of players earning the MLB minimum salary, which was $740,000 in 2024.

Baseball’s championship payouts trail those of the NBA on a per-player basis. NBA playoff teams split $33.7 million this year, with each Celtics player earning about $800,000 after winning the title. Kansas City Chiefs players earned $338,000 for their Super Bowl appearance. In the NHL, the playoff pool was $22 million, and $6.5 million, or about $240,000 per player, went to the champion Florida Panthers.

The 2023 MLB playoff pool was boosted by LCS losers Philadelphia and Houston, both of which are large market teams with strong ticket revenues – Houston finished fourth at gate in 2023. Excluding Oakland, Arizona has the second-largest stadium by capacity, but its ticket prices are at the lower end of the league. Texas was in the second quartile in scoring.

The Yankees and/or Dodgers making it to the World Series or at least the LCS would be a huge boost to the postseason pool. The Yankees have the most expensive tickets in the sport and play in the fifth-largest building, while the Dodgers stadium has a maximum capacity of 56,000 and ticket prices are in the top five. Both clubs are significantly increasing the prices for playoff tickets.

The length of a playoff series does not affect the playoff pool as it is determined by the minimum number of games required to win each round. However, it makes a significant difference to a team’s postseason winnings. Teams keep 40% of the ticket revenue in the first few games and 100% of the revenue after the minimum number of games have been played in each round.