BASEBALL’S MOST VALUABLE TEAMS

LIKE THE SCREWBALL and the .400 full-season batting average, the cash-strapped pro ball club may soon be a thing of the past. The average Major League Baseball team brought in $34 million in operating income last year, a 52% jump over a year ago, and is worth $1.54 billion, a 19% jump.

Why the surge in profits? The rise in total league revenue last year was more than double the increase in player costs, such as salaries and signing bonuses. As for the teams’ valuations, they’ve reached upper-deck proportions thanks to new local TV deals and the escalating value of MLB Advanced Media, baseball’s interactive-media subsidiary that the 30 clubs jointly own.