A different team won the World Series for the fifth straight year. This is not much for dynasty-making, but this sport, through revenue sharing and the payroll tax, is trying to head in the opposite direction, toward greater parity. The five teams winning give evidence of more open opportunities. And the fact that the last two teams that won -- the Sox both Red and White -- had waited what seemed like eternities for the renewal of championship festivities gave a genuine, touching quality to the proceedings.

"In 2004, you broke the Curse of the Bambino," said Bud Selig. "And I say that not facetiously. There is the emotion of people. I remember in Fenway Park, second game of the World Series, a woman stopped to tell me that while the Red Sox hadn't won yet, she was confident, although extremely nervous. But what had she done that day? She had gone to the cemetery -- now, she's telling me this very seriously, with tears streaming down her face -- to tell her mother and dad that their beloved Red Sox had won the pennant. And I got chills when I heard that. Now, she told them that after the Red Sox won the pennant. Imagine what she must have done after they won the world championship.

"In Chicago this year, my goodness, I heard one story after another about the emotion that people had. The stain of 1919 is wiped out, and all the heartache of the White Sox over the years. And it goes again to serve as a rather dramatic manifestation of how important our sport is, how popular our sport is, and what a deep impact it makes at every level of society.

"But this year, the interest in baseball was just stunning. There are a lot of reasons for it. Certainly, the changing of the economic landscape is No. 1. We have more parity today than ever before. I'm very proud of that. There was a lot of anger and a lot of frustration in the '90s as we fought to change the system. But those days are over now. And we still have work to be done. But you can see the effects of parity. There's better competitive balance."

This year was another example in favor of an argument that Selig has been making for several seasons. Baseball's "Golden Era"? It is here and now.

"Today, it's obvious to people that something has changed, and the game is flourishing," said Selig. "I have attendance figures in my desk that go back to 1901, and the difference is stunning. Go back to the postwar era, which has always been regarded as the 'Golden Era' of baseball. So in the 'Golden Era' of baseball, in 1950, we drew 17,462,975, and the average team averaged 1.091 million. In 1952, it was 914,000. In 1953, even with the Braves coming [to Milwaukee] and drawing a lot of people, it was 899,000. In 1954, the average team drew 996,000. And it didn't change much until the late 1970s, early 1980s.

"The idea was that baseball was moribund. It was not the pastime, it was past its time, you've heard all that. You don't hear that anymore. This year, the average club drew 2.497 million. And that's an amazing story, an amazing story."

A litany of the great individual performances of 2005 cannot be risked here for fear of leaving out even one worthy performance. But this much has become clear: The game is better now because the talent pool is wider and deeper, with the influx of increasing numbers of players from Latin America and Asia.

And as we close Baseball 2005, its successor season is already rich with promise, starting with the first World Baseball Classic. The Classic will both recognize and celebrate the international growth of the game

"And now we have the World Baseball Classic," said the Commissioner. "I don't think people begin to understand the impact that this is going to have, not only on the sport in America, but even more so internationally, which is our great horizon. We're getting great player cooperation, which I'm grateful for. And it's going to be just spectacular."

All the issues and alterations aside, what makes baseball is the unchanging, elemental appeal of the game itself. To some of us, it remains, without blushing at the threat of overstatement, one of noblest inventions of humankind.

"The more you watch it, the more you understand what a great game it is," said Selig. "It produces drama, tension that you just can't imagine. You watch it. There's nothing like it.

"Yes, the grand old game is just really clicking along."

The Commissioner gets to say that because it is true. Yes, there was a difficult start for baseball this year, but the game overcame some serious issues and yet retained its essential quality. That could be one definition of a successful season. In fact, that should be one definition of a successful season.