Detroit Tigers Are MLB's Least Efficient Team, While Atlanta Braves Are On Top

Major League Baseball kicked off its 2016 season this week, and fans are hopeful this year will be a championship year for their favorite teams. But while fans are counting wins and losses, team owners are counting dollars and cents.

The University of Detroit Mercy Marketing Professor Michael Bernacchi recently took a close look at Forbes numbers from last season to determine which teams are running sound businesses and which teams are not.

The average MLB team’s value is now an incredible $1.288 billion. Not surprisingly, the New York Yankees top the list of most valuable teams with a value of $3.4 billion. The Tampa Bay Rays are currently the least valuable team, with a price tag of only about $650 million.

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When it comes to growth, the Houston Astros were last year’s biggest winner. A young exciting group of core players and the team’s first playoff push in years drove 37.5 percent year-over-year valuation growth last year. The Cleveland Indians (-3.0 percent) and Philadelphia Phillies (-1.2 percent) were the only two teams with negative valuation growth last year.

In terms of operational efficiency, Bernacchi divided each team’s 2015 revenue by its payroll to determine which teams are getting the most bang for their buck. Bernacchi found that the Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers are running the least efficient businesses, while owners of the Atlanta Braves and the Milwaukee Brewers were most efficient.

Image credit: Michael, Flickr