I never thought I would do this, but I congratulate the New York Mets and their fans for a truly outstanding season. They are a resilient, never-say-die group of ballplayers who almost made history. The Mets and Atlanta Braves established a rivalry that symbolizes the beauty of competitive baseball.

And then there’s the Boston Red Sox, which is a very good baseball team that simply faced the one team it couldn’t beat – the New York Yankees. Although Boston did win the regular season series, all that matters is the postseason. The Yankees organization is a team of destiny and the Red Sox, to put it in nicer words, are an unlucky bunch. So the Bambino will still haunt Boston and the second coming of the 1969 Miracle Mets who swept Atlanta in the National League Championship Series will watch the World Series knowing they were merely an error here or a walk there away from what could have been.

But it wasn’t.

And now the two teams that were supposed to be here, the two teams that should be here, are in fact here. The Braves and the Yankees will battle to become what people have called the Team of the Decade. The Atlanta Braves probably has the best case for being given such a label. They have now made eight postseason appearances in the 1990s, beginning in 1991 when the Braves ultimately lost to Minnesota 4-3 in the World Series. The Braves have been to five World Series but have only won one – in 1995, a 4-2 defeat of the Cleveland Indians. The strike of1994 seemed to erase memories of the one season when the Montreal Expos were on their way to making Atlanta a second-place ballclub.

The New York Yankees only dominated the American League in the latter part of the decade, making the playoffs in every year since 1995. The Yankees lost in their first playoff appearance but won the World Series in 1996. The Yankees beat the Braves 4-2 in the 1996 World Series, coming back from a two-game deficit to sweep the final four games. Trust me, Yankee manager Joe Torre cried. The Yankees went on to lose to Cleveland in 1997 but won it all once again in 1998 when the team won 112 regular season games. Bottom line – two World championships.

I will make no bold statements about who will win in 1999, only to say that I think the Yankees will win. But the Yankees did not have a perfect year like they did in 1998. The Yankees organization lost Joe DiMaggio and Catfish Hunter this year while manager Joe Torre was sidelined with cancer. On the field they showed they were surprisingly vulnerable. Despite it all, the Yankees are back in the World Series. But Atlanta also returned to the World Series, playing all season without first-baseman Andres Galarraga and much of the season without catcher Javy Lopez.

I’m sure many baseball fans have seen enough of Atlanta, certainly New York, but it’s fitting these two teams can play each other to attempt to decide who dominated the decade. Would a subway series have been nice? Yes! Would a Boston World Series appearance have been amazing to see? Certainly! Didn’t you know in your heart that neither was going to happen? Of course.

What you will see regardless of what happens is Joe Torre crying. But you can’t help but like the sensitive guy who endured many personal and family health issues. You will see the funny intense face of Yankees’ bench coach Don Zimmer and the bobbing of Braves’ pitching coach Leo Mazzone. And the heroic most valuable player in this amazing display of playoff baseball will probably be an unknown Jeffrey Maier or Francisco Cabrera or someone like that. You just never know.

If the Yankees win in 1999, a third title in five years should end the debate over who is the team of the decade. Don’t forget – the dominant Toronto Blue Jays won two World Series titles in the early 1990s, first establishing themselves in 1991 and then winning back-to-back titles over Atlanta in 1992 and Philadelphia in 1993. But who cares about Toronto when you’re talking about the Yankees. Should the Braves win, the decade clearly belongs to Atlanta. But I’m sure the Yankees would have no problem taking the runner-up Team of the Century prize.