Around midnight last Thursday, I looked down into my half-empty – or half-full if you’re one… Around midnight last Thursday, I looked down into my half-empty – or half-full if you’re one of those optimistic people – beverage and felt an overwhelming sadness wash over me.

Yeah, I was disappointed that I had already drank most of my drink. But what had really made me sad was that the baseball season had come to an end.

Over the years, my interest in baseball has waned thanks to a number of things. Although the players and owners have tried their best to run the sport into the ground, I continued to care, because baseball is a great sport.

Before anyone gets upset by that statement, what I mean is, as far as tradition and legacy go, nothing can match that of Major League Baseball.

Normally, when the playoffs roll around, I lose interest and focus my attention on football. Maybe I’ll watch a game or two of the World Series, but that’s probably because there is nothing else on.

But this year was different, with both the Chicago Cubs and the Boston Red Sox in the chase. In the playoffs, in the same year, it just seemed destined that they would meet in the World Series.

But it wasn’t to be. Say it was because of a curse or because neither team was good enough. No matter what the reason, the perfect fall classic didn’t pan out.

Which is why the season might as well be over.

Why would anyone outside of Miami and New York want to watch?

Why would anyone want to watch period? The outcome is certain – the Yankees are going to win.

As much as I hate to say it, New York will win the series, whether it is in five games or seven games. No matter how hard you deny it, you’ve known that since the beginning of the season.

And that’s what is wrong with baseball.

In no other sport can a team buy championships the way they can in baseball.

Sure, the Detroit Red Wings won a Stanley Cup two years ago with a Hall of Fame lineup that they bought, but spending lots of money doesn’t always result in a championship in hockey. Just ask the New York Rangers.

With salary caps in basketball and football, it’s impossible to buy a title.

The Florida Marlins were the first team to do it in baseball, which makes it kind of interesting that they’re facing the Yankees.

At the beginning of the year, no one would have guessed that the Marlins would be there. Everyone could have predicted that New York would be there.

The Yankees are a dynasty, but are nothing like any sports dynasty before them.

Of the nine position players who started on New York’s first World Series team of 1996, only Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams remain. In fact, more than half of the Yankees starting lineup has changed since New York advanced to the fall classic in 2001.

That’s not a real dynasty. A dynasty is the team that keeps the same core of players year in and year out, filling any holes only when they come up. Buying two new outfielders and a first and third baseman every year and a half and expecting to win is not.

On the other side, perhaps the Marlins will become a dynasty of their own. There is the core of players – Luis Castillo, Juan Pierre and Miguel Cabrera – and Florida added the veterans it needed in Ivan Rodriguez and Jeff Conine to make the playoff push. But judging by the current financial situation in baseball, it’s not likely.

It would have been great to see Chicago and Boston in the World Series. It would be great to see Florida win the team’s second championship.

But it won’t happen. In today’s baseball world, money talks and the emperor wears blue pinstripes.

Joe Marchilena is the sports editor of The Pitt News, and he wrote this column with his normal people hands.