When your team makes the playoffs, it gets some extra cash thanks to the extra revenue generated by a playoff run. A chunk of it goes to the organization, and a chunk of it goes to the players.
And, while it’s great news for everyone, it can be especially impactful for younger and/or journeyman players for whom a playoff share is a disproportionately enormous bonus – especially if the rest of your teammates are generous.
So it is with the Cubs, and has been for their three playoff runs:
The Cubs issued 68 full postseason shares after making in to the NLCS last season, each worth $133,159.02. It was the most full shares issued of any playoff team. They also issued 7.5 partial shares and six cash awards. The Cubs gave out 66 full… https://t.co/ByeX0Lg5go
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) November 27, 2017
As Rogers notes, the Cubs’ players gave out the most full shares this year, tied with the Dodgers for the most full shares last year, and – as this Tribune article notes from a couple years ago – the Cubs also gave out the most shares for the 2015 postseason run.
Those six-figure awards are decided by the team’s full-time players, and can go to players who’ve been a part of the team for some of the year, coaches, trainers, and/or other staff on the club. Maybe another $133,159.02 (or almost $369,000 last year) won’t make or break it for a team’s superstar, but for a relative regular Joe in the organization? It can be life-changing.
Good on the Cubs’ players for their generosity, and here’s hoping they have many more opportunities to be generous ahead of them.