An exciting regular season was followed up by a hectic postseason that turned conventional logic upside down. Before I depart for my annual winter hibernation, I thought I'd share a few things the 2006 baseball season taught me:

Don't Believe The Hype
Entering the postseason, the Twins and Yankees were getting all of the hype in the American League. The Twins magical turnaround and unlikely Central Division title had many tabbing them for postseason greatness. Getting by Oakland was thought to be a given. King George's Evil Empire meanwhile, appeared to be in full stride of another championship march. Losing to Detroit wasn't even mentioned. Both teams, however, laid an egg and really went down without much of a fight.

Rest Can Be Bad
By the time the World Series rolled around, it was the Tigers that were carrying the mantle of the prohibited favorite. They sat around for six days after sweeping Oakland in the ALCS listening to the media tell them how wonderful there were. By the time the World Series rolled around, they believed it. The Cardinals came into the Series fairly well rested after a seven-game, rainout-riddled series with the Mets relishing the role of underdog. Detroit, clearly rusty, proceeded to stumble and bumble into a five game defeat. Now they have the next few months to think about it.

Ryan Howard Is Amazing
With Barry Bonds defiantly fading into the sunset, many players are lining up to take over his title as baseball's supreme masher. For my money, it's Ryan Howard -- hands down. The Phillies slugger had a historic season, hitting .313/.425/.659 with an incredible post-steroid era 58 home runs and 149 RBI. That's amazing enough, but when you consider it was his first full big league season it becomes downright insane. My only regret is that I live in an American League city and probably won't be able to see the 26-year-old first baseman play in person.

Never Count Out The Twins In June
Like many baseball observers, I wrote off the aforementioned Minnesota Twins in early June. The Twins put together one of the best regular seasons in recent memory before their ALDS sweep at the hands of the A's. I doubt we've heard the last of this young, talented squad.

Miller Park Is A Dud
My friends in Wisconsin are in denial about it, but their expensive new structure that passes for a ballpark has been a failure. At one time, the Brewers would open and close the roof nightly to the delight of their slack-jawed fans, now they are scared to open it if there is even the slightest possibility of precipitation. The reason of course, is the team's brass is scared the roof won't close properly if needed. The sad fact is that the monstrosity is ugly, has bad karma (deaths during construction and 2002 All Star Game tie) the Brewers are still terrible and the taxpayers are stuck paying for it. Yikes! Makes you glad you don't live in Wisconsin.