NEW YORK – An American League pennant didn’t do much to improve the value of Cleveland Indians who are still near the bottom of Forbes rankings of the values of Major League Baseball franchises, though still ranked higher than the Reds.
The magazine ranks the New York Yankees as baseball’s most valuable team for the 20th straight year and lists the Tampa Bay Rays with the lowest valuation at $825 million but, just ahead of the Rays are the Oakland A’s ($880 million), Cincinnati ($915 million) and Cleveland ($920 million).
Major League Baseball’s average team value rose 19 percent to $1.54 billion. Forbes says values increased because of new local television deals, as well as a “surge in profitability.”
Forbes said Tuesday it estimates the Yankees are worth $3.7 billion, up 9 percent from last year. The Dodgers are next at $2.75 billion, a 10 percent increase.
Boston was third at $2.7 billion, followed by the Chicago Cubs ($2.675 billion), San Francisco ($2.65 billion) and New York Mets ($2 billion).