It's time to promote the game. (Insider).

Quick, name the World Series favorite next season. Not the Angels--if they return the same rotation. Not the Giants--if they lose manager Dusty Baker and/or second baseman Jeff Kent. Not the Yankees, not the Braves, not anyone.

"What's great for baseball is the fact that New York, Atlanta and Arizona they're not invincible anymore," Reds general manager Jim Bowden says. "Instead of three or four teams, there are now 10 teams with a chance to win."

Frankly, Bowden's estimate might be low. Some team--maybe the Blue Jays in the American League, maybe the Phillies in the National League--will emerge as next year's Angels. Future seasons promise additional surprises as the new labor agreement redistributes the game's wealth.

Major League Baseball should not take the wrong message from the awful TV ratings it received for the all-california, wild-card World Series. The teams were interesting. The games were compelling. The sport is on the verge of a competitive renaissance.

Promote it.

For years, MLB wasted considerable energy trying to break the union and squeeze the networks for every last dollar. It now can pursue more worthwhile endeavors, marketing heretofore unknown players such as David Eckstein, signing TV contracts that make the sport more accessible and shortening games, once and for all.

The ratings suggest that baseball interest is at an all-time low, but the competition for the attention of the sports fan continues to grow more intense, and news events such as the recent sniper slayings can reduce the World Series to an insignificant distraction.