The Giants are worth $2.25 billion now

I remember the Giants making lists when I was a kid. Every year. I can't remember if they were published by the Sporting News or Sports Illustrated or Baseball Weekly, or maybe all three, but the list would come out, and the Giants were always at the very bottom, #30, every danged time.

Ranking every ballpark in Major League Baseball

And unless the list was written by some weirdo Montreal-hating iconoclast, the Giants would rank #30.

#29 - Miami (future team)

If Major League Baseball puts a team in Miami, I guess they'll play in Joe Robbie Stadium? Boy, that would be hideous, a teal-and-concrete orgy that wasn't designed with baseball in mind, not even close.

At least it's better than Candlestick.

Now look at us. Started from the bottom, and now my whole team is here, he said in his hippest dad voice. The Giants have the fourth-highest franchise value in MLB, according to Forbes' annual rankings. They had $409 million in revenue, with an operating income of $73 million. They're worth a reported $2.25 billion now.

Two billion, two hundred and twenty-five million dollars. Why, if you tried to count those dollars at the start of a game at Coors field, one by one, you wouldn't be finished until the sixth inning, at least. It's a lot of money.

Let's just see how the last 10 years have gone for the Giants and their ownership group.

History of Forbes valuations

2006 - $410 million (#11-ranked team)
2007 - $459 million (#7)
2008 - $494 million (#8)
2009 - $471 million (#9)
2010 - $483 million (#9)
2011 - $563 million (#7)
2012 - $643 million (#9)
2013 - $786 million (#7)
2014 - $1 billion (#5)
2015 - $2 billion (#4)

Did the Giants really double in value between 2014 and 2015? Not really. Forbes just realized that they forgot to carry the two , and the Dodgers' sale (for more than twice their estimated value) probably had a lot to do with the adjustment.

But go back to the Candlestick nostalgia. The Giants were a lame duck of a team in a garbage stadium, and they were always going to be at the bottom of baseball's hierarchy. Let's check in with former co-owner Bud Herseth, who sold his 49-percent share in the Giants to Bob Lurie for $5.5 million.

That was after the Giants were going to move to Toronto, before they were going to move to Tampa.

#28 Tampa (future team)

If a baseball team ever came to Tampa, they would play in the state-of-the-art Very Large Dome Park, which is dark, squalid, and impossible to get to.

At least it's better than Candlestick.

The Giants are worth $2.25 billion now, even though the bottom fell out of the panda-hat industry. Following a financial behemoth Giants team will never not be weird.

(Also, the Dodgers have lost about $100 million over the last two seasons. Carry on.)