Baseball needs new narrative to eclipse Jeter’s long goodbye

Now that Derek Jeter has left baseball, the rest of the sport can focus on the real business of October, the play-offs and the suddenly dramatic road to the World Series.

But even though the excitement served up by teams vying for a post-season berth in September was fairly decent, those other ball clubs across the nation were never going to be able to compete for column inches with the long farewell dedicated to the retiring 40-year-old New York Yankee — the most popular sports star this city has had in 50 years.

Inexplicably, just when you thought there couldn’t be any more Hollywood attached to his career, Jeter signed off with two exciting epilogues that had the city buzzing, even those with loyalties to the borough of Queens and undying love for the mess at the Mets. And even those fans of their bitter rivals in Beantown.