It’s not going to change, which is a good thing. Lively competition is driving baseball’s growing attendance. Fans go to see teams that have something to play for, and 73 percent of the teams are playing for something.

From a competitive standpoint, the lack of big deals is great news. Teams that might throw in the towel if their rivals had landed difference-makers instead stay the course, keeping their own good players because everyone else is keeping theirs.

And why not? Sure, the Yankees had that $208 million payroll coming into the season, but they also had an ancient and injury-prone pitching staff. They’re winning games on offense and may yet prevail — I think they will — but if you’re chasing them for the wild card or the division, it’s hard to be afraid of a team whose No. 3 starter is Al Leiter and whose bullpen is just three deep.

The Yankees are learning that in addition to starting the season with players who can be counted on to be there all year, it is more vital than ever to keep the farm system stocked. New York has neglected to do that in recent years, trading most of its top talent to acquire veteran superstars. Desperate for pitching, the Yanks have already gone through the one decent arm they had — Chien-Ming Wang. When he went down with an injury, there was nothing left on the farm and, with no assets to use to land a premier starter via trade, the Yankees were left collecting every worn out has-been they could find.

When the season began, Yankees fans told themselves not to worry about the pitching. If worse came to worst, the team could always steal someone at the trade deadline, just as it always does.

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As recently as last year, there were some decent deals at the deadline. In June, the Astros got Carlos Beltran. On July 31, the Red Sox sent Nomar Garciaparra to the Cubs and landed Doug Mientkiewicz and Orlando Cabrera while the Marlins traded with the Dodgers for Paul LoDuca and the Dodgers got Steve Finley. The Yankees and White Sox swapped Jose Contreras and Esteban Loaiza.

Nobody close to that stature moved this year. There may yet be some waiver deals in the coming weeks as some teams finally realize they’re out of it. But the trade-deadline excitement is a thing of the past.

The lesson is do it right before the season begins. If you think there may be a problem with what you’ve put together, don’t count on picking up replacement parts along the way.

This year isn’t the exception, it’s the new rule.