Team values increased an average of 1% over the past year to $482 million, an all-time high. Fueled by more ticket sales and television money, league revenue increased 5.5% to $5.8 billion (our figures are net of revenue used to finance stadium debt). Operating income (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) rose 1.8% to $501 million--another record.

But dig deeper and you'll find the overall results are skewed by a handful of teams with great stadiums and cable television deals. Business is tough: Ten franchises saw their values decline during the past year, the most since 2004, and many teams are having a more difficult time selling premium seating, sponsorships and meeting debt obligations because of the bad economy. The net result is a widening gap between the teams at the top and the ones at the bottom.
In Pictures: What The Teams Are Worth

No one is getting richer faster than the No. 1-ranked New York Yankees, whose value shot up 15% this year to $1.5 billion. The Bronx Bombers pulled in $80 million--by far the most in baseball--from their rights fee with the YES Network in 2008 and moved into the most lucrative stadium in baseball this season. (Full disclosure: Forbes has a show on the YES Network.) The new stadium also means the Yankees will have to hand over a lower percentage of their revenue to rivals.

Yes, the team's stadium revenue--tickets, suites, advertising, concessions--is likely to go up by more than $100 million this season. But MLB permits teams to deduct stadium-operating and debt expenses from revenue before calculating the amount the league will take from them to subsidize other teams. Last season the Yankees had to hand over $95 million to the league so it could be distributed to teams like the Florida Marlins, Pittsburgh Pirates, Kansas City Royals and Tampa Bay Rays. In the new stadium the Yankees' deductible expenses will be around $100 million, enough to wipe out the windfall in revenue.

No. 2-ranked New York Mets rose 11% and are now worth $912 million. The team is in a sense a mini version of its cross-town rival. The Mets also moved into a new stadium, Citi Field, this year, and the team will get an average of $20 million a year in naming rights and related advertising from the bank. And a great cable deal brought in $52 million last season.

The next three most valuable teams--the Boston Red Sox ($833 million), Los Angeles Dodgers ($722 million) and Chicago Cubs ($700 million)--own their stadiums and generate a lot of money from tickets, concessions and sponsorships. And each of these teams generates a pile of cash from cable television.

But several teams are falling further behind the firepower of the leading franchises. The San Francisco Giants fell 5% in value, to $471 million. The team's attendance is down since not resigning Barry Bonds after the 2007 season, and the value of its personal seat licenses have decreased 60% to 80% over the past three years.