It's over.

Oh, there are about 120 games left to play, and there are races of moderate interest, but you know and I know that we'll have another Twins-Cardinals World Series, and that the MVPs will be Manny and Todd, the Cy Young winners will be Pedro and Kevin, the Jackie Robinson rookies will be Ichiro and Albert.

But there is one prize which retains the element of suspense. That's the Mike Edwards Award, named after the former Oakland infielder who once submitted to arbitration a lower salary figure than the club did. The Mike, or WIT (What'd I Think?), hasn't been this wide-open in a long, long time. After all, Marge Schott and Peter Angelos have been the Maddux and Clemens of stupidity. But this season is shaping up to be an epic of duncedom. Why, the heads seem to be as thick as the pollen. Let's recap:

· Rangers sign A-Rod for $252 million. That worked out well, Tom. Your Stars lasted longer. Now you can spend the rest of the baseball season wondering whether or not A-Rod's batting average will be higher than your winning percentage. Johnny Oates took the fall, but Cap Anson couldn't win with that pitching.

· A-Rod signs with Rangers for $252 million. That worked out well, Alex. What is it now, 16 1/2 games behind the Mariners? How's it feel, dumping J.Lo for Rosemary Clooney?

· Carl Everett costs the Red Sox a victory by getting tagged out trying for third. Okay, we're not talking Stephen Jay Gould here. Carl believes dinosaurs are a myth. If that's the case, how come David Cone is starting today?

· Armando Benitez wreaks $4,000 worth of havoc on PacBell visitor's clubhouse after blowing another save. Somebody get this guy an inflatable Bobby Valentine bop doll. By the way, what do you think Armando's lawyer in his domestic abuse case said when he read the papers the day after?

· David Wells accuses Frank Thomas of jaking it. Hey, what are teammates for? Turned out Frank had a torn triceps that will keep him out for the rest of the season. But then David doesn't know much about muscles.

· In a three-way deal, Devil Rays acquire Ben Grieve, Royals get Roberto Hernandez and A's get Johnny Damon. Finally, a trade that hurt three teams.

· ESPN The Magazine puts A's on cover of baseball issue. As I recall, the cover billing was They're Loose, They're Lethal And They're Not The Yankees. Replate: They're Limp, They're Lousy And They're Not Even As Good As The Orioles.

· Twins fans risk forfeit by throwing hot dogs at Chuck Knoblauch. There's talk in Minnesota that Ric Flair might run for Senator.

· Owners approve new franchise in St. Petersburg. Okay, so it happened a few years ago. But this season, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays folly is in full flower: rotten record, diminishing attendance, payroll problems. Gentlemen, if you build a domed stadium on a toxic waste dump, put men in charge who don't know what they're doing ("Say, let's sign a lot of one-dimensonal players close in age to our population's demographic") and name it after a weird-looking sea creature -- they may not come.

· Members of Japanese media mistake Marge Schott for waitress. And to think they were on the same side during the war.

· In offseason, Mets brass thumbs nose at Mike Hampton, Bobby Jones, A-Rod, Juan Gone and Gary Sheffield; signs Desi Relaford, Tsuyoshi Shinjo, Kevin Appier and Steve Trachsel. The trouble with genius, Steve Phillips, is that once you think have it, you've lost it. Right now Mets fans would settle for getting Bubba Trammell back.

These are just a few of the bright ideas that have graced the race for the WIT. We've left out bad calls by umpires, bad moves by managers, bad decisions by arbitrators, the acquisition of Royce Clayton ...

'Course, all of these examples will dim in comparison to the mother of all mistakes, if and when that happens. Two words: Work stoppage.

Steve Wulf is executive editor of ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at steve.wulf@espnmag.com.