Toss your “baseball is dying” narrative out the window, because it couldn’t be further from the truth. Baseball is doing just fine, thank you. In fact, it’s doing better than ever. The average Major League Baseball team has increased in value 19 percent since last year, according to Forbes.

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Forbes released its annual team values Tuesday, which revealed many of the usual suspects at the top. To no one’s surprise, the New York Yankees ranked at the top of the list. Forbes values the team at $3.7 billion. They were followed by the Los Angeles Dodgers ($2.75 billion) and the Boston Red Sox ($2.7 billion). The World Series champion Chicago Cubs ($2.68 billion) placed fourth on the list. The average MLB team is worth $1.54 billion, which is second to only NFL teams at $2.33 billion.

The bigger story, however, is that values are up all over the sport. That’s due to a number of factors, according to Forbes. The biggest of which is new local television contracts signed by teams. These deals are not only lucrative, but allow franchises to spend that money on premier talent.

The Arizona Diamondbacks, for example, signed a TV deal worth $1.5 billion with Fox Sports Arizona in February 2015. A few months later, the team inked ace Zack Greinke to a six-year, $206.5 million contract. The Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels and Philadelphia Phillies have all signed similar television contracts in recent years.

Baseball team values are up 19 percent from last year. (AP Photo) More

On top of that, the league has seen the value of Major League Baseball Advanced Media rise quite a bit. MLBAM is the technological branch of the league. It deals with videos and live streams, among other things. It has partnerships with a number of well-known companies, like ESPN and the NHL. In December, MLBAM announced a partnership with the popular esport game League of Legends. Forbes estimates MLBAM is worth $3.5 billion.

Despite what some owners might try to sell fans, few teams are operating at a loss. Only five teams lost money last year, according to Forbes. They include the Dodgers, Detroit Tigers, Miami Marlins, Baltimore Orioles and Kansas City Royals.

While the game is in a good place at the moment, Forbes is unsure whether it will remain that way. The new collective bargaining agreement was just agreed to in November, and it’s tough to know how luxury tax penalties will impact team revenues moving forward.

For now, though, everything is great, and that shouldn’t come as a surprise. Even owning a team like the sad-sack Marlins can fetch more than $1 billion today.

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik