The end is near. 

No, that’s not some prophecy, it’s fact. 

The last Pac-12 Baseball Tournament begins on Tuesday. 

It’s the end of an era, and a dang good one at that. 

I’ve always found a good story to be one of the most powerful gifts we have. 

It would be impossible to tell the story of NCAA Baseball without mentioning the Pac-12. The team with the most National Championships in the country — USC with 12 — has called the Conference of Champions home for over a century. 

But the Trojans aren’t alone in bringing titles to the West Coast. Arizona State has five, Arizona has four, Oregon State has three, California and Stanford have two and UCLA has one.

But next year, as we should all know by now, the messy divorce of conference realignment will scatter the Pac-12 across the country, leaving behind only the memories and stories. 

West Coast baseball has often been overlooked (as is the case with many Pac-12 sports), but all of the titles, awards, prospects and memories will be left behind to tell its story.

Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski spoke of this history amidst his Ducks’ sweep of Washington State. He said that in the history of the conference, there have only been a handful of times in which multiple Pac-12 teams haven’t hosted regionals in the NCAA Tournament. 

Was he primarily attempting to grab the attention of the selection committees and national polls? Perhaps, but it doesn’t make what he said untrue. Baseball has been strong out West. 

While it’s not the gauntlet it’s been in the past, the conference could still send several teams to the NCAA Tournament. Wasikowski’s words could realistically hold true depending on what happens in this week’s tournament. 

Next season, many of these teams may still be dominant, but it just won’t feel the same, will it?

Nine teams are down in Scottsdale one last time to compete for Pac-12 glory. The next five days look to be a whirlwind of chaos and excitement as one more chapter in the story gets written. 

Of course, there will still be the NCAA Tournament in which these teams can wear the Pac-12 patch on the sleeve for one more run, but then the “12” becomes two, and the story of the Conferences of Champions closes.

So, I suppose I can wait until it’s truly over before getting too sentimental. 

But how will it end? Will a California school get another title? Will one of the Arizona schools protect their home state? Can the Ducks win back-to-back tournaments? Will the ninth-seeded Huskies get hot? Or, will the Beavers take one more title before they fall into Mountain-West irrelevance? 

Regardless of how the story ends, it’ll be poetic. 

It’s not The Night Before Christmas, but for us West Coast-loving fanatics, it’ll serve just fine.

We have a gift with this tournament, we need to soak it in. We need to enjoy it for the beautiful, unpredictable, passionate and delicate sport — and conference — that Pac-12 Baseball is. I’m beyond thrilled to be covering this event live. 

I’m excited for next year, too. Who wouldn’t be? New stories get to unfold and new rivalries are sure to appear.

But next year’s matchups just aren’t as riveting are they?

Oregon vs Rutgers, Arizona vs West Virginia, Cal vs Georgia Tech. These matchups will become our new reality, they don’t exactly scream “prime viewership” do they?

We only have one more week of true Pac-12 ball. We’re lucky it comes in such an action-packed form. But most teams will play their final games as Pac-12 schools this week. 

So, maybe the end isn’t near. Maybe, the end we’ve dreaded is here.