Eight teams, 200 players, at least 216 innings, one happy hero, one gloomy goat, one ticker-tape parade and millions of mobile phones.

Welcome to the 2006 Major League Baseball postseason.

Following this one is about to be even more captivating for many fans who are connected to their handsets as if they were baseball gloves. In fact, if Babe Ruth had hit his fabled 1932 World Series "Called Shot" in this age, it probably would have meant something entirely different -- a reference to all the people who heard about it through text alerts or listened to it live on their cell phones.

Or maybe the fans who took pictures of it inside the ballpark and had to e-mail them right away to their families back home or "called" everyone they knew to prove Ruth really did point to center field before homering there.

MLB.com Mobile is introducing you to a new way of postseason life, and we would send this to you as a text message but it's a lot longer than 140 characters, and every time we write about the new features the length keeps growing. Here are some of the highlights for getting the most out of that handset in October:

Mobile Dashboard and Playoff Alerts
MLB.com has expanded its popular core Team Alerts service with a tool called the "Mobile Dashboard." This is a Web interface that Team Alerts subscribers can use to control which alert types they want to receive. Previously it was a one-size-fits-all service; now you can customize it to whatever you want. Currently you can opt for home run alerts, lead changes in the seventh inning and later, postgame summaries, team news and league news. More alert types are coming, so subscribe now.

Also available now is a Playoff Alerts service, similar to Team Alerts but covering all the postseason teams and series. You can manage your Playoff Alerts subscription through the Mobile Dashboard, picking which alert types you want to receive and which series you want to follow. This service is offered at no additional charge to Team Alerts subscribers. Team Alerts subscribers also can opt to receive only their favorite team info and not the playoffs info.

Starting with the Division Series openers, MLB.com's new "TeamTXT" service launches. You can text message the name of your favorite club to MLBGO (65246) and receive an instant team update. If a game is in progress, it will show the score, inning, batter, pitcher, series record and more. Between games, it will show the most recent score, series record and schedule.

Hear live games from anywhere
MLB.com Gameday Audio is now available to Sprint wireless customers, meaning fans can hear every live game during the postseason wherever they are. All you have to do go to wap.mlb.com from your Sprint Vision phone, and if you have a compatible handset, you'll see a "Listen Live" link on the MLB.com home page. Click that, click again to subscribe, then just select a live game and it will launch in your handset's media player. Recaps from the previous day's games are also available.

Choose the home or road broadcast crew of any of the eight clubs playing in the Division Series, which is especially valuable if you have lived and breathed on their words for 162 games and need to have the same voice for continuation. It's the start of what will become widespread availability of live games this way, and it is just yet another highlight in the constant stream of new baseball benefits for MLB.com Mobile fans.

It's the same concept -- but a whole lot more modern -- for those people who might remember what it was like to carry a transistor radio to school or elsewhere so they could hear every play toward the dramatic finish.

"For the first time, fans visiting the MLB.com WAP site on a Sprint phone can now choose to listen to live MLB games," Adam Ritter, vice president of wireless for Major League Baseball Advanced Media, said when this capability was launched late in the regular season. "This is the first time live sporting events are being offered from a WAP site. It's significant because fans can access all of their MLB.com content in one place without downloading an application."

"Consumers have come to rely on Sprint as the wireless carrier with the power to offer the most comprehensive mobile sports and entertainment packages," said Alana Muller, director of product marketing for Sprint. "And now, baseball is no exception. Fans can enjoy every Major League Baseball game, virtually anytime, anywhere."

Get important info anytime
Want to see what the MLB.com WAP site looks like on your mobile phone? Go to wap.mlb.com and drill down. Pick a team, pick a player, find his career stats while you are sitting at that local establishment trying to quickly answer a baseball argument. Find your team's schedule while traveling on the highway. It is always updated and there.

The MLB.com Mobile WAP site is also converting over to Playoffs mode this week, with postseason-specific schedules and statistics.

MLB.com Mobile has launched a photo gallery and box scores on the WAP site. You probably are already using that mobile phone for all kinds of photo opportunities, and you might as well see postseason action photos on it.

It's not just how you play the game, but how you look
What wallpaper is on your mobile phone? Yes, your bulldog is beautiful. But nothing is better than that official team-logo wallpaper, in various styles, including those of eight clubs that are now going after the big prize. MLB.com Mobile lets you download your own style -- or get it straight from the team site.

Red Sox and White Sox fans won't have their favorite teams to cheer for these next few weeks, but that just makes now a perfect time to get a ringtone featuring the last-out broadcasting call of a drought-busting world championship. As with wallpaper, sort through the list of ringtones available for each team. Preview one, and put it on your handset.

Show off
The MLB.com Trivia Challenge is your chance to show how much you know about Major League Baseball history -- especially postseason history -- right now. How you fare goes toward the overall standings to determine which team has the smartest fans, and the best part is being registered to win two tickets to your favorite team's 2007 Opening Day game.

To start playing, just text the name of your favorite team (Example: CUBS), to 69652 (MYMLB). You will receive a text message in your mobile phone's inbox advising you to confirm your $2.99 monthly subscription. You must reply to the message with a "Y" or the word "yes." You will receive a message to let you know you are now signed up for MLB.com Trivia Challenge Alerts.You can expect to receive up to three new questions per day, and each time you receive the four multiple-choice questions, just text back the letter for the appropriate answers to 69652. Your carrier's standard rate messaging fees may apply, so you might want to check with them for further information.

Maybe you are a Yankees fan who wants to show how much you know about those 26 world championships, or a Cardinals fan with an answer about the old Gashouse Gang. This is the time of year to wax nostalgic over the greatest finishes ever, and it's also a time to make new memories that will be talked about forever.

It's postseason baseball again, and this time mobile phone technology is a big part of it.