The NL East

Wow. The Yankees. Wow. The tiniest possible consolation is that Bonderman was on my fantasy team, so I like him.

I suppose that means the '39 team can now officially take up more of my attention than the just-as-historical 2006 version.

On to the NL East. The leagues were split into divisions starting last season, and both last and this season the NL East has been the closest and craziest.

1897 Beaneaters: Perhaps the greatest team of the 19th century, with four Hall of Famers, not including manager Frank Selee. Tremendous hitters, and got the best of archrivals Batimore more often than not.

1902 Pirates: Dominated the National League, setting a record for winning percentage still unmatched (if I remember right). Led by Honus Wagner, the team went on to win the pennant the following year and play in the first World Series.

1986 Mets: One of only two teams in the eight-team division to be World Series winners, and my brother's favorite team. My uncle referred to their bullpen as "Roger McDoubtful", "Jesse Fiasco" and "Doug Risk". But it's hard to argue with 108 wins and two classic postseason series.

1941 Dodgers: Originally the 1953 team was in the league, but by a mechanism to be later explained, the 1941 team came to the fore. another famous post-season error turned the tide in Game 4 leading to a Yankees victory in their first meeting in October. The Dodgers won 100 games in 1941, and won even more the following year in a second-place effort...

1905 Giants: Winners of the 1904 NL pennant, New York refused to play Boston in the World Series, which led Boston to claim their second consecutive title by default. The Giants won 105 games, following up their 1904 pennant with another in 1905, paced by Christy Mathewson and Iron Man McGinnity. Amazingly, the Giants did not allow an earned run during the five games, only giving up three unearned runs. Obviously, they won.

1993 Phillies: While all of the interest in the National League was focused on the Giants/Braves duel in the West, the Phils were the surprise winners in the East. They defeated the Braves in the NLCS, but lost to Toronto in the World Series on a famous home run.

1998 Braves: A team-record 106 wins led them to an easy NL East title. After crushing the Cubs in the NLDS, the Padres defeated them for the pennant and the right to be crushed, in turn, by the Yankees. Though Greg Maddux was probably their best pitcher, Tom Glavine won the Cy Young Award for them that year.

1994 Expos: They were the best team in baseball when the strike hit in 1994. They're the reason Atlanta really can't claim to have won 14 (or however many) consecutive divisional titles. They had a young Pedro Martinez, Larry Walker, Moises Alou, Marquise Grissom, John Wettleand and Cliff Floyd. And many people who've done simulations think they would have won the World Series.