(Final regular season rankings. Last week in parentheses)

1 New York Yankees. Super season would be wasted by an October- November flameout. (1)

2 Los Angeles Angels. Adenhart’s memory a huge motivator. (2)

3 Boston Red Sox. Definitely a notch below Yanks this year. But they were in ’04 too. (5)

4 Los Angeles Dodgers. Never-panicking Torre held off Rockies. (3)

5 Philadelphia Phillies. Amazing they went all season with this bullpen. (4)

6 Colorado Rockies. Two out of three years is no fluke. (7)

7 St. Louis Cardinals. Seemed bored down the stretch with Central wrapped up. (6)

8 Minnesota Twins. All-time classic game capped all-time classic comeback. (15)

9 San Francisco Giants. A bat away from major damage. (9)

10 Atlanta Braves. Will be a chic pick in Cox’s ’10 farewell. (8)

11 Texas Rangers. Washington was in trouble in April and a hero by August. (10)

12 Florida Marlins. Shame on them for even thinking about dumping Gonzalez. (12)

13 Detroit Tigers. Shame on them for the last three weeks. (11)

14 Seattle Mariners. Wakamatsu will get some manager of the year votes. (14)

15 Tampa Bay Rays. After small drop, they can look to Rox for bounceback motivation. (16)

16 Chicago Cubs. Another wasted year. (13)

17 Milwaukee Brewers. Ex-Golden Griff Axford had 3.52 ERA in seven games and got first MLB save in finale. (17)

18 Cincinnati Reds. Phillips closes with 98 RBIs. (18)

19 Chicago White Sox. Ozzie as frustrated as Piniella was. (19)

20 Toronto Blue Jays. Is there any way that Cito can come back? (20)

21 Oakland Athletics. Rookie arms were bright spots. (21)

22 San Diego Padres. GM Towers couldn’t survive slide. (23)

23 Houston Astros. Job one: Get a manager. (22)

24 Arizona Diamondbacks.

Webb has $8.5 million option. Do they keep him? (24)

25 New York Mets. Insist they’ll spend money. We’ll see. (25)

26 Kansas City Royals. Great years for Greinke, Soria. (26)

27 Cleveland Indians. See Astros.

(27)

28Baltimore

Orioles.

Hoping

youngsters will mature the Rays Way. (29)

29 Pittsburgh Pirates. Can even mess up losing 100 games by dropping only 99. (28)

30Washington

Nationals.

Somehow finished on seven-game winning streak. (30)