Abaseball team paid eight times as much to their ace pitcher as they paid to their shortstop. if they paid 81 million for the two salaries, what did they pay each player?

x +y = 81 million

 let x be the short stop and y be the pitcher

 so pitcher (y) gets 2 times what the the shortstop (x) gets so y = 2x

 so x + 2x = 81 million

3x = 81

x = 27

 the short stop makes 27 million

 the pitcher makes 54 million