Forbes released their annual MLB team valuations Wednesday, and the San Francisco Giants are sitting pretty.
The team is now worth $2.85 billion, a value increase of 8 percent from 2017. That increase was enough to make them the fourth-most valuable MLB team, moving them up one spot from their fifth-place valuation in 2017.
They trail the New York Yankees ($4 billion), Los Angeles Dodgers ($3 billion), and Chicago Cubs, who barely edged the Giants out for third at a valuation of $2.9 million.
Both the Cubs and the Giants’ value increases could be at least partially tied to renovations of land surrounding their ballparks. Cubs’ majority owner Tom Ricketts is overseeing extensive renovations of both Wrigley Field and land in the surrounding Wrigleyville neighborhood in an attempt to increase business, while the Giants will soon start work on their Mission Rock development south of AT&T Park.
Both teams leapfrogged the Boston Red Sox, which had the third-highest value in 2017.
While the Oakland A’s are still near the bottom of the valuations at 26th out of 30 teams, their value increased the most of any MLB team. From $880 million in 2017, their value increased 16 percent to $1.02 billion. The A’s also moved up two spots in the standings from 28th to 26th.
The average MLB team’s value rose 7 percent from 2017 to 2018.