The New York Yankees has topped as the most-valuable Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise in the Forbes list for the 22nd consecutive time. The New York-based team is valued at 4.6 billion U.S. dollars. 

Incidentally, five major league teams are valued at 3 billion or more U.S. dollars while the New York Yankees is the only team above 4 billion U.S. dollars. 

The annual list of team values was released on Wednesday by the world famous American business magazine. According to Forbes, the Yankees saw a 15 percent increase in their value from 2018. 

The other four in the big five list are the Los Angeles Dodgers (3.3 billion U.S. dollars), Boston Red Sox (3.2 billion U.S. dollars), Chicago Cubs (3.1 billion U.S. dollars) and San Francisco Giants (3 billion U.S. dollars). 

However, the same day, the Yankees suffered a shattering defeat as Jose Altuve recorded his fourth career multi-homer game while Collin McHugh produced another effective start as the Houston Astros rounded off a perfect homestand with an 8-6 victory. 

Wednesday night's win at Minute Maid Park helped Astros accomplish a three-game sweep of the New York Yankees. A night after recording his 100th career home run, Altuve socked solo dingers in the first and fifth innings and finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs, two runs and a walk.