Mike McCann's Field of Fotos

And your MVP is Stephen Strasburg ! Two dominating and impressive performances in the World Series as he became the first pitcher ever to go an undefeated 5 - 0 in the post season. So much history: That 95 year Washington baseball championship drought is over. This was the first World Series (or seven-game playoff in any major pro sport) where the visiting team won all seven games. They were the post-season's comeback kids: Rebounding from two-run deficits in the eighth inning against All-Star pitchers in the wild-card game against Milwaukee and the decisive game of the division series in Los Angeles. And they erased a two-run deficit in World Series game seven after being stymied by 2018 All Star Zack Greinke. Strasburg is the first player drafted first overall to be named World Series MVP.

Stopper is a term you don't hear that often anymore. I recall it back in the '70s and '80s as the description of a starting pitcher with the knack of halting losing streaks. Tuesday night's 8-1/3 inning performance by Stephen Strasburg certainly falls under that banner. He halted the Nationals slide and drew them even with the Astros and set up a winner-take-all game seven of the World Series. After being treated like grandma's fragile china over the course of his 10 big league seasons -- who can forget the Nationals ending his 2012 season early, when, while healthy, they felt holding him to an innings limit was more important than advancing in the post-season --  Strasburg had the most prolific year of his career in 2019. He threw the most innings, struck out the most batters and won the most games. Tuesday, once over the 1st inning hiccups, he grew stronger as the night rolled on. He worked 8-1/3 innings, halting the big Houston bats and continuing the weird ...

...you share it with R.A. Dickey . The onetime 1st round draft pick of the Texas Rangers reinvented himself as a knuckleballer and finally found success -- as a Met. Dickey went 20-6 in 2012, with a 2.73 ERA and 230 strikeouts to earn the NL Cy Young Award. While that was absolutely a career year, he continued to post double digit win totals through age 42, when he finished his big league career with the Braves. Also getting their cake and candles today: Ender Inciarte , the speedy Braves center fielder, who was held to just 65 games in 2019 by injury. Will Venable , the Princeton grad who enjoyed a nine-season big league career, mostly with the Padres. The son of former outfielder Max Venable went into coaching and has interviewed for several managerial openings this fall. Karim Garcia put up some big home run totals in the minors, but never quite lived up to his potential. He hit 66 homers over parts of 10 big league seasons, including stops with the Dodgers and Yankee...

When Max Scherzer woke up Saturday with discomfort in his neck and shoulder area, he knew his game five start was in jeopardy. A day later, when he couldn't get out of bed and couldn't use his precious right arm, the Nats worst fears had become reality. His 35 year-old body could not make it onto the field. Sunday night, there was no battle of aces, no Scherzer versus Gerrit Cole in prime time. With the World Series tied at two wins a side, game five should have been a monumental matchup, the two best teams having lined up their best starting pitchers. Instead, the max-imum disappointment for Washington baseball fans. Fill in starter Joe Ross was tagged for a pair of two runs homers, while for the third straight game in their park, the Nationals were held to just one run. Just. One. Run. And three straight losses. Would it have been different had Max made it through the pain and stiffness? A healthy Scherzer is as good as it gets. But this hasn't been a seas...

October 27th, 1986 was a Monday night. After the surrealness of the "Buckner Game," heavy rains arrived in New York. pushing pushed back game seven of the Mets/Red Sox World Series by 24 hours. And just like game 6, the Red Sox took a lead at Shea Stadium, before the Mets rallied to tie and then pull ahead. Not quite as suspenseful. Almost, after what took place on that magical night two nights earlier, anti-climactic. Series MVP Ray Knight's leadoff homer in 7th inning gave the Mets the lead for keeps as they rolled past Boston 8 - 5 to take their second World Series in franchise history. Fortunately, I was there for all four home games. As the overnight deejay on WYNY -- but clearly the biggest sports fan on the staff -- I somehow lucked into a press pass for the NLCS games against the Astros. When the Mets moved onto the World Series, so did I. Filing reports for the station's morning news was my first professional experience in sports. And I loved every m...

Two names to focus on: Walter Johnson , who pitched four shutout innings to earn the win as the Senators took the seventh and deciding game of the 1924 World Series -- the only baseball championship in Washington history. This somewhat abstract statue honoring the Senators greatest player ever is displayed on the outfield concourse at Nationals Park. Darryl Strawberry has a place in this conversation, if you're an Astros fan. Even though the lefty slugger never suited up for Houston, he might be the inspiration for the club that lost the first two games at home and then headed out on the road for game three. Strawberry holds the distinction of being on the last two teams to lose the first two games of a World Series at home -- the '86 Mets and '96 Yankees -- and then rally to win it all. Doing it once is thrilling; being part of two teams a decade apart (let alone from the same city!), is close to unbelievable. No one else I can think of brings THAT kind of experience...

We didn't have a doubleheader last night in Houston. It only played out like one. The Nats and Astros traded two-spots in the 1st inning, before Stephen Strasburg and Justin Verlander settled down, keeping the score locked at 2 through six innings. Then, as if a switch was flipped, everything changed. Kurt Suzuki   homered off Verlander to begin the 7th, which opened the floodgates. Before it was over, Washington had rallied for six runs to put game two away. The Nationals 12-3 victory sends them home for the next three games -- if necessary. Friday night, Washington will host the city's first World Series game in 86 years, having already turned the tables on the team with the best home record in baseball this season. ( My image of Suzuki is from the April 7th Mets/Nats game at Citi Field .)

What a World Series debut for Juan Soto : a game-tying home run off Garret Cole in the 4th inning of Tuesday night's game one . An inning later, a two-run double that provided what became the National winning run. Keep in mind, this is no grizzled veteran. Soto turns 21 on Friday, when he'll be in left field for the first World Series game played in Washington since 1933. And as noted by Joel Sherman in the New York Post , he became the third youngest player to ever hit cleanup in a World Series, joining Miguel Cabrera and Ty Cobb -- as well as the fourth youngest (behind Miguel Cabrera, Mickey Mantle and Andruw Jones) to homer in the Fall Classic. Soto has a heck of a future. Don't worry about that. He's already having a heck of a present!

  It's interesting that this year, we have a World Series with a common thread. Akin to a Subway Series, matching two New York teams, a Bay Bridge Series pairing San Francisco and Oakland, and the I-70 Series, whose entrants The Cardinals and Royals were connected by that highway, say hello to... The Fitteam Ballpark Series or... if you want to go non-commercial, The West Palm Pairing For the first time in the division play era, we have a World Series that matches spring training co-tenants. (We did have another in 1942, with the Yankees and Cardinals who trained at Al Lang Field, St. Petersburg). Three years ago, the Astros and Nationals moved into a terrific new facility in West Palm Beach. And this October, the two clubs that began their journey just off I-95 in Palm Beach County, will meet for baseball's ultimate prize. Do you have a better nickname for the Houston-Washington showdown? While it lacks the "starpower" the Yankees, Dodgers, Cubs or Car...

Is there a better way to describe Jose Altuve 's walk off homer that sent the Astros to the 2019 World Series? Saturday night, tie game, bottom of the 9th inning, but there were a few differences. Of course, it's league championship, not the World Series. It's game six, so the series would not have to conclude that evening. The Yankees, after trailing all night, had battled back to tie on DJ LeMahieu's home run. Hoping to force extra innings, Yankee closer Aroldis Chapman retired the first two Houston batters before things began to unravel, setting the stage for a home run that crushed Yankee fans much as one by a certain Pirates 2nd baseman did on an October afternoon 59 years earlier.

The Yankees failed to cash in on a huge opportunity Thursday night. Bottom of the 1st inning and already up 1-0 on Zack Greinke and the Astros, Gary Sanchez came up following Brett Gardner's bases-loaded walk. A single likely makes it 3-0, a home run -- and keep in mind, Sanchez had 31 of those during the regular season -- could quickly put the game almost out of reach. Instead, Sanchez, on a 0 and 2 count, flailed away at a Greinke pitch way out of the strike zone. Crunch time, and as George Steinbrenner loved to say, he "spit the bit." Sure, Sanchez, later delivered a two-run homer -- but with the team down 6-1, it really didn't bring the Yankees back. No one came up clutch on the Yanks Thursday night. Gleyber Torres and Edwin Encarnacion each struck out with the bases loaded and the club down just 3-1. The whole night, the hitters appeared out of synch, or out of gas. And the Yankees now find themselves one loss away from not only their off-season, but co...

I made my one and only visit to Milwaukee County Stadium in 1994, the season the Brewers marked their 25th season in Wisconsin and a new logo was introduced. On the back side (or is the front), the club riffs on the main design with a special image honoring a quarter century as the Brewers. This interlocking M and B atop a diamond with interlocking bats comes off as crowded, and doesn't "pop" the way the Yankees and Mets NY's, the Giants' SF or the Dodgers' LA do. The design didn't resonate with fans and lasted just six seasons. Six years later, just before Miller Park opened, the primary logo was changed to resemble the brewing company's logo. And in recent years, the club's earlier look, artistically blending an M, a B and a ball in a shape suggesting a mitt, has enjoyed a resurgence. Over the years, a number of heavy plastic "stadium cups" have made it back to my house. This one ranks among the oddest and, with the passage of t...

...the World Series will be played in Washington. This one was a no-doubter, with the Nationals exploding for seven 1st inning runs en route to an NLCS sweeping win over the Cardinals. Here are some favorite images from my visits to Nationals Park in 2010 (above), 2012 and 2017. The star-crossed franchise, which had never won a playoff round since moving to DC a decade and a half ago, rebounded from a 19-31 start to grab a Wild Card. They beat the Brewers, then survived a five-game series against the top-seeded Dodgers. Then, a no-doubt-about-it sweep of the Cardinals to bring the World Series back to Washington for the first time since the first year of the FDR administration.

If today's your birthday, you share it with Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer . The three-time Cy Young Award winnner (1973, '75 '76) he won 268 games in a 19-year career spent entirely with the Orioles. The only pitcher in baseball history to win World Series games in three different decades -- the '60s, 70s and 80s -- Palmer's shutout in the 1966 World Series at Dodger Stadium handed a loss to Sandy Koufax, in the final game of Koufax’s career. Palmere then comfortably moved into broadcasting and remains a part of Baltimore's TV crew. Also on today's cake and candles list: Jack Flaherty , the Cardinals budding young ace, who just pitched in the NLCS. Teoscar Hernandez , the promising Blue Jays slugger, who has belted 22 and 28 homers in his first two full big league seasons. And there's plenty of October 15th history as well: The Cardinals clinched a pair of World Series on this date. In 1946, Enos Slaughter raced home to score from 1st on ...

The Astros and Yankees scratched out just four runs over the first nine innings. Two each. Both teams threatened, but neither scored in the 10th. JA Happ, who got the Yankees out of 10th inning trouble, was back for a second inning of work. His first batter in the 11th was Houston shortstop Carlos Correa . Happ's first pitch would be his final one -- as Correia homered, a walk-off blast that tied the ALCS, with the next three games at Yankee Stadium. And waiting for the Yankees on Tuesday afternoon is the hottest pitcher in baseball Gerrit Cole. It will be a lot tougher for the Yanks to face him with the series tied, than if they'd come home up two games to none.

Yankee fans who grew up during the '60s recall the heroics of the M&M Boys: Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, especially in 1961. Saturday night, another pair of repeating initials headlined the Yankees ALCS  game 1 victory: Masahiro Tanaka and Gleyber Torres . The veteran Tanaka further secured his place as a terrific post-season pitcher as he silenced the Astros bats, confounding stars such as Altuve, Bregman, Springer and Alvarez into pounding ground ball after ground ball. Six innings of one hit shutout ball as the Yankee hitters built and kept extending the lead. The biggest of those bats belonged to the 22 year old second baseball who has become the team's most dangerous October bat. Torres opened the scoring in the top of the 4th inning by doubling in DJ LeMahieu. Two innings later came a solo homer. Then a two-RBI single in the 7th. He capped his evening with a run-producing ground out in the 8th. FIVE RBI. And a terrific fielding play throwing out a Michael B...

Don Larsen and the late Roy Halladay remain the only two pitchers ever to have thrown a post-season no hitter thanks to  Jose Martinez . Facing Anibal Sanchez of the Nationals with two outs and no one on in the last of the 8th, he delivered a line drive single to center, snapping Sanchez's bid to join that exclusive circle. Reliever Sean Doolittle took over, nailing the down the final four outs and the save as Washington blanked the Cardinals 2 - 0 in the opening game of the NLCS. Maybe you're wondering why I'm displaying Martinez and not Sanchez in this post. The answer's simple. Through 14 seasons and more than 300 starts, I've never snapped a photo of Sanchez. I keep missing him. Matching the great data from baseball-reference.com with my photo archive, I noticed that I have seen his teams a day or two before, or after, he takes the mound. Whether it's from his time with the Marlins, Tigers, Braves or now the Nationals, Sanchez has proven to be among t...

The Rays boldly pushed the Astros to the limit in their ALDS matchup. After beating Justin Verlander to force a 5th and deciding game in Houston, there was one final obstacle in their path -- but Gerrit Cole could not be moved. This was HIS series. His moment. After tossing eight shutout innings in the Astros' game two win, Cole closed out the Rays with another extreme eight -- surrendering just an Eric Sogard solo homer and a single to Ji Man Choi. Nothing more. Forget crooked numbers, this was mostly zeroes, as the 20-game winner and AL leader in ERA and strikeouts sent his club onto a League Championship Series showdown with the Yankees. Cole beat the Yankees back in early April, but didn't exactly put up Bob Gibson numbers (3 runs over seven innings). Things really began to click on May 27th when he beat the Cubs -- the first of 15 consecutive victories to close out 2019. Just turning 29 and coming off his first 20-win season, Cole's timing couldn't be bet...

Teams wearing red, as well as the number 10 figured into both of Wednesday night's game 5 surprises in the NLDS: Jack Flaherty tossed six effective innings -- and walked with the bases loaded as part of a 10-run top of the first inning -- as the Cardinals shocked the Braves in Atlanta. Their 13 - 1 win at Sun Trust Park moves them into the NLCS against the Nats, who shocked and rocked the Dodgers on Howie Kendrick's top of the 10th inning grand slam.

Cameron Maybin is one of those "well traveled" players you're likely to find on a playoff team. The 13-year veteran has found a home with the Yankees. Whether filling in for injured outfielders Aaron Judge, Aaron Hicks, Giancarlo Stanton and Mike Tauchman, or coming in as a late-game defensive replacement, Maybin has proven to be one of Brian Cashman's savvy, low cost pickups. And you can argue that his 9th inning home run -- after coming into the game for Stanton -- in Monday night's series clinching win at Minnesota was as important as any they hit that night. ( My image of Maybin is from the Septemer 17th Yankees/Angels game in New York .)

You're looking at Gleyber Torres, who had a terrific game last night for the Yankees, homering, doubling twice, and added pair of eye-catching defensive plays in a 5 - 1 sweep-capping victory. That's not the only story. The resurgent Didi Gregorius and Luis Severino made themselves known, as did Aaron Judge and Gio Urshela. But there's another name worth dropping: Herb Stein. You won't find his name in the lineup cards or even on baseball-reference.com. Trust me, he belongs in this conversation. The New York-based scout, who signed over 100 players during his 35-year career with the Senators/Twins, saw eight of the make the majors and one -- Rod Carew -- inducted into the Hall of Fame. As noted in a 1996 New York Daily News story, "To this day, Stein speaks of his big-leaguers Carew, Frank Viola, Joe Foy, Danny Monzon, Sal Butera, Gene Larkin and Scott Leius with almost paternal pride. Unfortunately, the Minnesota organization didn't value Stein'...

The Braves and Dodgers both authored come-from-behind victories on Sunday. Both came in sudden fashion -- and on the road! At Busch Stadium, Atlanta trailed the Cardinals 1 -0 with two out and two on in the top of the 9th. Shortstop Dansby Swanson then doubled in pinch runner Billy Hamilton to erase the St. Louis lead. Adam Duvall followed with a two-run single to give the Braves their winning margin, 3 - 1. The late game also hinged on a sudden comeback. Down 2 - 1 with two out and two on in the 6th, catcher Russell Martin doubled in the tying and go-ahead runs as the Dodgers jumped ahead of the Nationals and went to score seven runs that inning en route to a 10 -4 win. Both teams can close out their ALDS opponents today, setting up an NLDS showdown between the clubs with the top two records this year in the National League.

October 17th, 2019: the upper deck crowd erupts at Yankee Stadium following the last out of their ALCS game four win over the Astros. Pure joy. And L-O-U-D. Arms are raised, cameraphones snap away. the Yankees run toward the pitchers mound to form a victory line.

October 4th, 1969: capping the first season of divisional play, a pair of best-of-5 League Championship Series begin. At Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Paul Blair's bunt single in the bottom of the 9th scores Mark Bellanger as the Orioles walk off the Twins 4-3. At Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium , J.C. Martin -- pinch hitting for Tom Seaver -- delivers a bases loaded single that scores all three runners (helped out by a Tony Gonzalez error in right field), that turns a 6 - 5 lead into a four-run cushion. The Mets go onto a 9 - 5 win the franchise's first post-season game. Both series would end in three game sweeps. Three wins a side set up that memorable Mets/Orioles World Series. Now it takes seven or eight wins to just make it to baseball's fall classic. And a sport that almost always ended by Columbus Day now runs to or past Halloween -- and plays its most important games at night for the TV audiences. ( My photo of Martin, wearing his #9 uniform, is f...

Yandy Diaz was Wednesday's headliner, homering off Sean Minnea to lead off the AL Wild Card playoff, then adding a two-run shot an inning later. Powered by Diaz, Charlie Morton and the Rays cruised to a 4 - 0 victory and a date with the Astros Friday night at Minute Maid Park. After smacking 14 homers through July 22nd, the Cuban expat missed the next nine weeks with a fractured foot. All he needed were three at-bats in Sunday's regular season finale for a tuneup -- before becoming just the 10th player ever and first in a Tampa Bay uniform to have a post-season multi home run game. ( My image of Yandy Diaz is from the May 18th Rays/Yankees game in New York .)

Juan Soto won't turn 21 until later in October. But he delivered what be the most significant hit to date in Washington Nationals history. With his club down 3-1 to the Brewers and two out in the bottom of the 8th in Tuesday's NL Wild Card game, Soto soared. Facing Milwaukee closer Josh Hader, the lefthanded prodigy emptied the bases with a single (followed by a fielding error by Brewers rightfielder Trent Grisham). Three runs in, Washington on top, seemingly in the blink of an eye. Daniel Hudson nailed down the save and for the first time since the franchise moved to DC, the Nats had won a playoff round. ( My image of Soto is from the August 9th, Nationals/Mets game at Citi Field in New York .)

...you share it with Xander Bogaerts . While his Red Sox slipped from their 2018 pace, their shortstop enjoyed his most prolific season yet, batting over .300 with 33 homers, 117 RBI and a .939 OPS. He'll remain a Boston fixture through 2025, having recently signed a long term contract extension. Also getting cake and candles on this first of October: Hall of Famer Rod Carew , one of the greatest "pure hitters" of all time. A .328 lifetime hitter with the Twins and Angels, he was 1967's Rookie of the Year and the AL MVP ten years later. And his career stats show mark him as a throwback to the heyday of Ty Cobb and Wee Willie Keeler: he had more triples (112) than home runs (92), something you almost never see today -- especially someone with as long as prolific career as the Panama native who spent his teenage years in New York. Mark McGwire , whose 583 homers, tainted by PED use, will not be enough to get him into the Hall of Fame. He and Sammy Sosa helped br...