All 30 franchises, ranked. Aggregated from Forbes 2025 with revenue, operating income, and year-over-year change. The Institute's plain-English reference for readers who want to understand what Major League Baseball is worth as a business — and why regional sports network defaults are hitting bottom-half teams the hardest.
Source: Forbes, The MLB's Most Valuable Teams 2025, by Justin Teitelbaum and Brett Knight. Published March 27, 2025 (updated June 10, 2025). Forbes original article →
What the Institute adds. We save the reader the time to aggregate and check sources — every valuation on this page traces to Forbes with the publication date noted — and we bring an original point of view once the record is on the table. Thirty-one years as a CPA, plus decades as a controller, CFO, and family-office operator, sit behind the read of what the numbers mean for franchise economics, ownership succession, and league-level trends. Aggregation is the floor; the practitioner interpretation is the reason to read us.
What the reader should know: Forbes' figures blend team-level financials with market, arena/stadium, and brand value. They are the most-cited valuations in the sport but they are estimates, not audited disclosures — MLB teams do not publish audited financial statements.
| # | Team | State / Province | Value | YoY | Revenue | Op. Income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York Yankees | New York | $8.20B | +15% | $679M | $60M |
| 2 | Los Angeles Dodgers | California | $6.80B | +21% | $752M | $29M |
| 3 | Boston Red Sox | Massachusetts | $4.80B | +9% | $471M | $46M |
| 4 | Chicago Cubs | Illinois | $4.60B | +10% | $500M | $34M |
| 5 | San Francisco Giants | California | $4.10B | +6% | $487M | $18M |
| 6 | New York Mets | New York | $3.20B | +10% | $395M | -$27M |
| 7 | Philadelphia Phillies | Pennsylvania | $3.15B | +29% | $486M | $3M |
| 8 | Atlanta Braves | Georgia | $3.10B | +8% | $490M | $52M |
| 9 | St. Louis Cardinals | Missouri | $2.90B | +7% | $425M | $36M |
| 10 | Texas Rangers | Texas | $2.60B | +16% | $430M | $11M |
| 11 | Houston Astros | Texas | $2.55B | +7% | $439M | $29M |
| 12 | Toronto Blue Jays | Ontario | $2.50B | +16% | $375M | -$34M |
| 13 | Seattle Mariners | Washington | $2.40B | +9% | $395M | $28M |
| 14 | Chicago White Sox | Illinois | $2.25B | +7% | $326M | -$18M |
| 15 | San Diego Padres | California | $2.15B | +8% | $412M | -$45M |
| 16 | Washington Nationals | District of Columbia | $2.10B | +11% | $338M | -$16M |
| 17 | Detroit Tigers | Michigan | $2.00B | +8% | $300M | $1M |
| 18 | Baltimore Orioles | Maryland | $1.95B | +11% | $298M | -$4M |
| 19 | Colorado Rockies | Colorado | $1.90B | +6% | $334M | -$12M |
| 20 | Arizona Diamondbacks | Arizona | $1.80B | +13% | $305M | -$11M |
| 21 | Los Angeles Angels | California | $1.75B | +3% | $342M | -$4M |
| 22 | Minnesota Twins | Minnesota | $1.70B | +6% | $309M | -$3M |
| 23 | Milwaukee Brewers | Wisconsin | $1.65B | +10% | $310M | $29M |
| 24 | Cincinnati Reds | Ohio | $1.55B | +7% | $284M | $8M |
| 25 | Pittsburgh Pirates | Pennsylvania | $1.45B | +7% | $278M | $7M |
| 26 | Cleveland Guardians | Ohio | $1.40B | +8% | $275M | $17M |
| 27 | Kansas City Royals | Missouri | $1.35B | +8% | $261M | -$1M |
| 28 | Tampa Bay Rays | Florida | $1.30B | +8% | $281M | $28M |
| 29 | Oakland Athletics | California | $1.25B | +14% | $213M | $61M |
| 30 | Miami Marlins | Florida | $1.05B | +5% | $247M | -$29M |
All figures rounded per Forbes reporting convention. Operating income is stated pre-interest, tax, depreciation, amortization, and non-cash items — consistent with Forbes' methodology across leagues.
The Institute's plain-English read of the 2025 Forbes MLB data:
1. The whole league is worth about $78 billion. Summing the 30 franchise valuations produces an aggregate market value of roughly $78 billion — up from about $70 billion a year ago. Growth is materially slower than NFL, NBA, and NHL, largely because of the regional sports network (RSN) collapse and the collective bargaining agreement expiring after the 2026 season.
2. The Yankees stayed on top for the 28th consecutive year. $8.2B franchise value, $679M revenue, YES Network stake, and pinstripes brand equity. The Dodgers at $6.8B are the only credible challenger — and generate more revenue than the Yankees ($752M vs $679M) but less operating income (structurally, LA's payroll is higher).
3. Sixteen of thirty teams posted negative operating income. Read that line again. In a league where the median team is worth $2 billion, more than half the league lost money in the year Forbes measured. Mets ($27M loss), Padres ($45M loss), Marlins ($29M loss). This is why the CBA expiration is the story.
4. RSN defaults reshape the local-media picture. Diamond Sports Group's bankruptcy (Bally Sports) affected 12 MLB teams. MLB Media picked up direct-to-consumer streaming for the affected clubs at materially lower revenue — a step-down that is showing up in the smaller-market valuations that lost the most revenue certainty.
5. The Yankees YES Network stake sale is the benchmark transaction of the year. Yankee Global Enterprises' 26% stake in YES Network valued the network at approximately $6.9B in the 2025 recapitalization — anchoring the RSN economics conversation. Read this alongside the Rangers' local media environment, the Dodgers' SportsNet LA construct, and the Astros' AT&T SportsNet Southwest exit.
The Baratelli Institute does not produce original MLB franchise valuations. Forbes does that, Sportico does that, Sports Business Journal does that. We aggregate what those sources publish into a single reference destination and then bring a practitioner's read to what the numbers mean — how franchise valuations connect to family-office capital structure, how arena and stadium deals interact with municipal bond markets, how media rights economics compare across leagues, and how ownership succession is playing out at individual clubs.
Every number on this page traces to a filed or published source. The Forbes 2025 ranking is the primary source. Historical valuations trace to Forbes' annual publications. Where per-team pages include salary cap detail, they source from Over The Cap, Spotrac, or PuckPedia with the reference date noted. Where we discuss ownership, we source from public filings, press disclosures, and the ownership family's own communications. Where we discuss arena or stadium economics, we source from municipal bond issuances, lease agreements filed with local governments, and league-published revenue-sharing formulas.
The reader who wants a specialist's read on any single team should start here, then read the primary sources and the team's local press coverage. We are a starting point that saves the reader the time to aggregate the field — and a practitioner voice once the record is on the table.
Primary source: Forbes 2025 MLB Team Valuations, by Justin Teitelbaum and Brett Knight. March 27, 2025 (updated June 10, 2025). Forbes original →
Institute contribution: aggregation into a single reference destination, plain-English read of what the ranking means, cross-references to case studies, ownership and arena/stadium context, cross-league benchmarking.
Corroborating sources: Wikipedia's Forbes list of the most valuable MLB teams (updated 2025); prior Forbes rankings; league revenue-sharing disclosures; individual team press releases.
Refresh cadence: annual, following Forbes' publication. Next update expected June 2026 for the Forbes 2026 ranking.
Editorial disclosure: the Institute has no financial relationship with any MLB franchise, Forbes, Sportico, or any other data source referenced. Published as an educational reference. Not investment advice.