If you're a baseball fan, last Friday and Saturday were certainly a lot of fun.

Nomar Garciaparra to the Cubs. Brad Penny, Hee Seop Choi and Steve Finley to the Dodgers. Orlando Cabrera, Doug Mientkiewicz and Dave Roberts to the Red Sox. Esteban Loaiza to the Yankees. Jose Contreras to the White Sox. Paul Lo Duca, Guillermo Mota and Juan Encarnacion to the Marlins. Kris Benson and Victor Zambrano to the Mets.

The flurry of deadline deals made for some intriguing second-guessing, which, after all, is baseball's lifeblood. Who made good trades? Who goofed? We haven't seen such lengthy and detailed analysis since, well, Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction at the Super Bowl.

The funny thing? None of the deals will probably make much difference in who wins what.

Look at the teams in first place right now, either in their divisions or in the wild-card race. There may be one surprise guest before the season is over -- maybe -- but odds are these are the same teams that will still be playing in October.

Take away the strike seasons of 1981 and 1994, and there have been 151 division champions since divisional play began in 1969. Of those, 109 were already in first place on July 31. And a mere 14 of the remaining 42 division winners were more than 3 1/2 games back. That's about 9 percent.

There are exceptions: the 1978 Yankees, '93 Braves and '95 Mariners. The A's, in fact, have made a habit of second-half runs in recent years. But for the most part, what you see at this time of year is what you're going to get. Trades or no trades.

But it was a fun weekend, nonetheless.

On to the rankings ...

MLB Power Rankings Rank LW Team 1 1 St. Louis Cardinals In the past 60 years, only two St. Louis teams had better records than this year's 67-37 mark after 104 games, and both those squads (1944, '68) won National League pennants. Of course, that first team also had Stan Musial. And the second had Bob Gibson. 2 2 New York Yankees Alex Rodriguez contends he was a victim in his fight with Jason Varitek, but Red Sox skipper Terry Francona isn't having any it. "I'm not a lip reader," said Francona, "but I could read [Rodriguez's] lips and the word victim wasn't coming out." 3 4 Los Angeles Dodgers This should be a fun bunch to watch the rest of the way. They blew up a first-place ream in hopes of adding Randy Johnson and Charles Johnson -- and may have ended up just blowing up a first-place team. So long, Lo Duca. Hello, Brent Mayne. 4 9 Minnesota Twins After Torii Hunter collided with Jamie Burke at home plate the other night, the Twins center fielder said a White Sox fan threatened to kill him. "I was hoping he was coming out on the field," said Hunter. "You come on the field, you'll get your butt whupped. That's a free butt-whuppin' right there." 5 8 Oakland Athletics Fifteen-game winner Mark Mulder had six assists in a recent win over the Mariners. "I just figure I'll be a hockey goalie when the season is done," Mulder said. "There's got to be a rink in Arizona where I can sign up." 6 14 Atlanta Braves Russ Ortiz was named NL Pitcher of the Month after going 5-0 with a 1.67 ERA in July, including a 1-0 win over the Pirates in which he stranded nine runners in seven innings. "Russ is a Weeble-Wobble," said closer John Smoltz. "You can't knock him over." 7 3 Texas Rangers Hear about their recent scuffle with the Angels? Gerald Laird and Adam Kennedy, after a disagreement the night before, went at it again when Laird saw Kennedy eyeing him and said, "What's your problem?" The best part? Happened during batting practice. 8 13 Chicago Cubs Garciaparra arrived just in time to see Wrigley Field start falling apart. The Cubs have installed safety nets to catch chunks of falling concrete from the upper deck. Our favorite reaction: Mark Prior suggested the Cubs have "Hard Hat Day for the rest of the year." 9 7 Boston Red Sox Hard to fault their trade of Garciparra. Banged-up, unhappy and at the end of a contract, he was clearly done in Boston. Of course, Orlando Cabrera will now be the most scrutinized person in Boston since the DNC balloon guy. 10 5 San Diego Padres Bruce Bochy can't stop raving about rookie shortstop Khalil Greene. "He's not only taking hits away," said Bochy, "he's turning them into double plays." And he has really great hair, too. 11 6 San Francisco Giants They've grounded into an NL-high 106 double plays, including four during a 6-0 loss to the Cardinals last week. "I know one thing," said Felipe Alou. "When this thing is over, some of our guys will know what a double-play pitch looks like." 12 15 Anaheim Angels They terminated Raul Mondesi's contract after he failed to show up for a scheduled rehab appointment. Or, considering his 4-for-34 performance, any of the eight games he played for Anaheim this season. 13 11 Philadelphia Phillies Larry Bowa is on the hot seat again, but David Bell still has confidence in the Phils. "I like our team," Bell said. "I believe it's the best team I've ever played for." Whoa -- Bell played for the 116-victory Mariners in 2001 and the NL champion Giants in 2002. 14 10 Chicago White Sox Ozzie Guillen recently noticed that Rangers manager Buck Showalter fills out his lineup card in excruciating detail. Guillen, not to be outdone, responded with a lineup card with a thumbnail photo of each White Sox starter, plus his e-mail address. 15 20 Houston Astros How about Roger Clemens reportedly getting tossed for spitting a sunflower seed at an umpire -- at his son's 10-and-under traveling team ballgame in Colorado? For that matter, how about a 10-year-old kid playing on a traveling team? F. Scott Fitzgerald was right, I guess. 16 19 Cleveland Indians At 24, C.C. Sabathia is the youngest pitcher to win 50 games since 24-year-old Steve Avery in 1993. But, Dude, what's with that cap? 17 18 Florida Marlins Are they still in the hunt? As long as they have games left with the Phillies -- and they have seven -- yes. After a four-game sweep last week, they're 23-3 against the Phils since Opening Day 2003. 18 12 Cincinnati Reds That whistling noise you hear is the Reds' free fall. They're 17-33 since June 6, in part because Jose Acevedo went 0-4 with a 9.67 ERA in July and Cory Lidle was 0-4, 7.76. But at least they have Junior back. 19 16 New York Mets So they're chasing a half-dozen teams or more in the wild-card race and they trade their top pitching prospects for Kris Benson, who can be a free agent after this season, and Victor "Walk Don't Run" Zambrano. What, Doyle Alexander wasn't available? 20 17 Milwaukee Brewers That breeze in Miller Park ain't coming off Lake Michigan. Russell Branyan has a 480-foot homer and a double in 14 at-bats since the Brewers acquired him from the Indians last week ... and seven strikeouts. 21 22 Tampa Bay Devil Rays They're talking about doing an eight- or nine-year deal with 19-year-old shortstop B.J. Upton, who was just called up from the minors this week. We know the kid's good, but eight or nine years? Two words: Wayne Garland. 22 23 Detroit Tigers Bobby Higginson caught a drive by Casey Blake last week after running with his back to the plate, throwing his hands up like a wide receiver and trapping the ball against his chest -- after it first hit him in wrist and rolled up his arm. "That's another dagger in my heart," said Blake after the catch was described to him. "Anything else you want to tell me? Like he caught it with his mouth?" 23 21 Pittsburgh Pirates Kip Wells skipped the team picture because he was upset that GM David Littlefield said they needed to get more out of Wells and other pitchers. Then he backed off, saying he wasn't protesting, just busy preparing for that night's game. "With the technology available nowadays," he said, "I knew that my picture could be edited into the photo." Or out, Kip. 24 24 Baltimore Orioles After losing nine in a row, Sidney Ponson has won four straight games. Oh, and he's lost about 10 pounds in the past month, too. "I just watched what I ate," Ponson said. When he weighed in at 266 pounds in spring training, it was obvious Ponson was eating what he watched. 25 25 Colorado Rockies Larry Walker vetoed trades to the Marlins and Rangers last week, while Charles Johnson turned down a deal that would have sent him to the Dodgers. Hey, what's playing for a contender compared to padding your stats at Coors Field? 26 26 Toronto Blue Jays One sign things may not be going well? On a team with Carlos Delgado, Vernon Wells and Eric Hinkse, the leading RBI man is Josh Phelps, who was 51 to go along with his 12 homers and .237 batting average. 27 29 Montreal Expos MLB was expected to announce the Expos' new home during an owners' meeting Aug. 18-19 at Philadelphia, but apparently it won't happen. Which means D.C./northern Virginia remains the No. 1 choice, but Bud Selig & Co. still haven't mollified O's owner Peter Angelos. 28 28 Kansas City Royals Fred McGriff isn't making it to 500 homers, and Juan Gonzalez's chances are looking iffy, too. Gonzalez has 434 and he's just 33 years old, but it looks like he's done for the year with a bad back. And he hasn't played more than 82 games in any of the past three seasons. Juan may indeed be gone. 29 27 Seattle Mariners Before going on the DL this week, Eddie Guardado had a disappointing 18 saves with the rebuilding M's. "I thought we were going to the World Series," Guardado said. "I really did." That ranks right up there with Mr. Carlson's "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." 30 30 Arizona Diamondbacks Their recent 14-game losing streak included a major league-record 0-11 homestand. That beat the Seattle Pilots, who went 0-10 in 1969 -- and promptly moved to Milwaukee the next season to become the Brewers.

Dan George is a Senior Producer for SI.com.