Forbes Releases Annual Baseball Team Values

The Yankees are at the top. Sorry to disappoint you. It was good clickbait though, right?

The Yankees came in at #1 for the billionth consecutive time, seeing their value rise 9% over last year, despite the lockdown. They are the first team to clear the $5 billion mark. Baseball as a whole saw a value gain, as only two teams saw their value fall (Miami and Pittsburgh), and five more had no change.

Among the biggest gains, you’ll find the Yankees, Nationals, and Orioles (???) tied at 9%. The Phillies and your very own Minnesota Twins rounded out the top five gains, tied at 8%. The Twins are now the 19th most valuable franchise in MLB, at $1.3 billion. The only AL Central team that is more valuable is Chicago, coming in at 14th. The Tigers, Indians, and Royals all are in the bottom ten of the league. Value is very clearly tied to market size, with the top of the list populated by the teams from California (besides Oakland), New York, and Philadelphia, as well as the more storied Midwestern teams- namely, the Cubs and Cardinals.

The Forbes article continues by doing a surface examination of what holding games without fans would mean for team revenue across MLB, which was fairly interesting in today’s context. If you’re interested in learning more, check out the full article here.