America's pastime is a bigger business now than it has ever been. Profits are through the roof, star players are making more than ever, and major networks are paying more than ever to broadcast the games. Another financial milestone achieved by Major League Baseball was recently picked up by Forbes: For the first time in the history of the league, every MLB team is worth at least $1 billion.
That goes for the comparatively lowly Miami Marlins, valued at $1 billion, all the way up to (who else?) the New York Yankees at the top of the heap, with a total value of some $4.6 billion. Here's a rundown of how all 30 MLB teams are estimated to be worth:
Miami Marlins: $1 Billion
Tampa Bay Rays: $1.01 Billion
Kansas City Royals: $1.025 Billion
Cincinnati Reds: $1.05 Billion
Oakland Athletics: $1.1 Billion
Cleveland Indians: $1.15 Billion
Milwaukee Brewers: $1.175 Billion
Minnesota Twins: $1.2 Billion
Colorado Rockies: $1.225 Billion
Detroit Tigers: $1.25 Billion
Pittsburgh Pirates: $1.275 Billion
Baltimore Orioles: $1.28 Billion
Arizona Diamondbacks: $1.29 Billion
San Diego Padres: $1.35 Billion
Toronto Blue Jays: $1.5 Billion
Seattle Mariners: $1.575 Billion
Chicago White Sox: $1.6 Billion
Texas Rangers: $1.65 Billion
Atlanta Braves: $1.7 Billion
Washington Nationals: $1.75 Billion
Houston Astros: $1.775 Billion
Philadelphia Phillies: $1.85 Billion
Los Angeles Angels: $1.9 Billion
St. Louis Cardinals: $2.1 Billion
New York Mets: $2.3 Billion
San Francisco Giants: $3 Billion
Chicago Cubs: $3.1 Billion
Boston Red Sox: $3.2 Billion
Los Angeles Dodgers: $3.3 Billion
New York Yankees: $4.6 Billion
Al Bello/Allsport/Getty Images
As you can see in the above list, most of the teams in the league are fairly well grouped together, in terms of total team value, while on the other hand, the Yankees have a good $1.3 billion leap on the next most valuable team. The average team is still worth a generous $1.78 billion, which is a spike of some eight percent compared to the previous year – and yet another indication that baseball as an industry is continuing to grow.
