And now baseball matters for only eight, well, nine teams

There it is: the end of the 2009 regular MLB season.

One no-hitter, one perfect game and a season dominated by big-spending teams and the lack of competitive races.

Until now.

Gotta feel for Detroit -- if there's any city that could use a distraction... -- as they led Minnesota by 5.5 games on Sept. 14. Should be a fun atmosphere Tuesday in the Metrodome and it seems they just can't get rid of that building!

Funny, too, on the last day of the season five games were decided in extra innings. Washington, which couldn't finish the season soon enough, capped things off with a 15-inning win over Atlanta.

As far as the playoffs go, watch out for the National League. The Dodgers, which have home-field throughout, have gotta be all sorts of worried as their rotation is anything but stable and the Cardinals will try to throw Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter four times in a five-game series.

The Yankees don't seem all that dominant in the AL and who knows which Sabathia will show up in the postseason? And how many times have the Angels and Red Sox met in the playoffs recently? This is becoming a tradition.

Since the Giants are done -- a 16-game turnaround from a dreadful 2008 season ain't bad -- we'll probably check out and resort to TV sitcoms and Netflix. And once Joe Buck and Tim McCarver take over the airwaves, we'll be more interested in mid-week college football games than meaningful playoff games.

But there's baseball for 2009 for all but eight teams. Some nice sense of closure Sunday. Here's to some fun playoffs and the Dodgers and Red Sox losing in the first round!