Gone are the last traces of intrigue from the playoffs of baseball.

The Padres bowed out early, leaving Trevor Hoffman and his game-saving abilities to watch from his living room couch.

The Yankees had the best record in baseball, yet collapsed under a barrage of Detroit pitching and A-Rod strikeouts.

The Dodgers bowed out gracefully to the Mets after fighting to make the playoffs.

Minnesota, which came out of nowhere to win the AL Central, simply couldn’t continue its magical quest against Oakland.

And thus went the first round, knocking out not only four teams, but the intrigue and storylines that could have followed them. What would have happened if Minnesota had proceeded into Detroit, and it came down to Johan Santana against Justin Verlander in a Game 7 thriller, or maybe Nomar Garciaparra having the chance to do his best Kirk Gibson impression at Busch Stadium? But alas, none of this was destined to happen and we were left with Detroit and Oakland, and the Mets and Cardinals.

Now I know that both of these match-ups had intrigue and storylines, two things (besides the games), that make the series more interesting. You had Barry Zito making his last stand with Oakland against Jim Leyland’s suddenly dominant Tigers squad. You also had the new Amazin’ Mets, led by David Wright and company, who were trying to follow the blueprint of the Angels a few years back -- score a lot and have moderate pitching versus a St. Louis team that had used three people in left field in the NLDS. Still, with a Tony LaRussa led team, you could never count them out.

Both series however, came out flat. New York’s lack of pitching depth ultimately led to its demise. You knew things weren’t going to be pretty for the Mets after they stated that Oliver Perez’s line in Game 4 (5.2 innings 5 ER 3 HR) was a great performance.