Final weekend should be filled with drama Matchups for division series to be decided

There is something wonderful about this. This is a warning to all who think the games in April don’t count. This is about winning early and not having to sweat out the last weekend of the regular season – because that is just what a bunch of MLB teams are doing right now.

Here we are after six months of baseball and one weekend left and not one division matchup is set. Yet one more time, Yogi strikes again: It’s not over ’till the fat lady sings and that means the very last note.

The Cardinals could only lose the division if they went into a complete swoon. The Astros could only overtake then if they ran the table. Both are doing just that.

The Yankees could never catch the Red Sox. Then came five days in August and the Sox disappeared so far into the gloom that even next year looks like it will be a mess.

The Mets ran away with the NL East and now Pedro Martinez is gone for the playoffs.

Beware the short best-of-five division series where two good starters can do in any team.

The Twins could not possibly catch the Tigers who were the dream team of baseball 2006. The Tigers are still that and the Twins still caught them.

No team poses the danger in a division series like the Twins with a starting staff and bullpen that have been one or two most of the year.

San Diego would have walked in the NL West, but Jake Peavy didn’t have a good year on the mound and now they are trying to pry their way to October with the Dodgers hanging on for dear life.

Philadelphia traded away a franchise player in Bobby Abreau to the Yankees and then went on a winning rampage that has brought them to a shot at the wild card.

Oakland was ready to fire their manager at the All-Star break and now they comfortably lead the AL West with a disappointing Angels team looking up to a perch they cannot reach.

And who will beat the Yankees? Their injured players are returning, Mariano Rivera is closing again, and Chin Wang is the most underrated pitcher in the game, but not by his manager Joe Torre. Wang will open the playoffs on the mound.

This is all wonderful stuff. The wild card has worked by keeping teams and cities involved that otherwise would have been out months ago.

The playoffs are a tossup in both leagues and more hotel reservations have been made by teams in more cities then they made all year.

MLB will again have a new regular season attendance high. Runs are up and so are the homers, even with the drug testing.

The postseason will have the team you love to detest: the Yankees; Americans’ underdogs: the Tigers; the comeback kids: the Twins; and a team nobody knows about: the Padres.

This is what keeps the game going. Football is being played, but October will again belong to the diamond.

Old Town native Gary Thorne is an ESPN and ABC sportscaster.