Mike McCann's Field of Fotos

October 29th, 2018: The Mets make an unconventional choice to replace Sandy Alderson as general manager, naming player agent Brodie Van Wagenen. Despite a big trade for ex-Yankee star Robinson Cano, the team falls short of the playoffs in each of the next two seasons. October 29th, 2014: The Giants win their third World Series in five years, taking game seven over the Royals 3-2. Madison Bumgarner pitches the last five innings without giving up a run to earn the save, completing a stellar performance that also included wins in games 1 and 5, to earn the Series MVP Award. October 29th, 2008: The Phillies and Rays play three innings to complete a game suspended by rain two days earlier. T he Phils' 4-3 victory in game five completes the second championship in franchise history. Cole Hamels is named World Series MVP. October 29th, 1991: Buck Showalter replaces Stump Merrill as the manager of the New York Yankees. Four years later, he'll lead them back to the post-season for the fi...

...you share it with Josh Thole , whose eight year catching began with the Mets, where he specialized in working with knuckleballer R.A. Dickey. The duo were so effective together that he was sent to Toronto along with Dickey after the 2012 season.   Corban Joseph had an unusual Yankee career: two games, both in the same day, but none thereafter. A former 4th round draft pick, he played both ends of a doubleheader on May 13th, 2013, before returning to the minors. He later had "cups of coffee" with the Orioles, A's, Giants and Pirates in 2018 and '19.  Lenny Harris holds the record for most pinch hits in major league history. He totaled 212 over his 18 seasons (1988-2005). I last saw him when he coached 3rd base for the Marlins in 2015-'16. Bob Melvin has enjoyed a long a productive relationship working under Billy Beane. Standing to the left in his picture, he's managed the A's to three AL West titles in 11 seasons. The Bay Area native also caught in t...

The 117th World Series began as none had before, with the first batter of the series belting a home run. Braves leadoff man Jorge Soler sent a Framber Valdez pitch into the left field seats for an immediate 1-0 lead at Minute Maid Park. There've been other batters who'd led off their team's (bottom) half of the 1st with a homer, but this was the first time a visiting team had done it.  They'll likely be more records set and history made before this best-of-seven concludes, but this was as fast as we've seen it until now. And that's for an event whose roots reach back to 1903. ( My image of Soler is from a 2017 Royals/Yankees game .)

Both have Braves roots -- one at the beginning of his career, the other for his entire professional life. Dusty Baker has seeming been a part of everyone's baseball vernacular. Having made his big league debut with 1968 Braves -- during the week The Rascals' "People Got to Be Free" was number-one -- he'll be taking part in his sixth World Series. After three as a Dodgers player and one as a Giants, he managed San Francisco against Anaheim in the 2002 Fall Classic. After his Nationals failed to win a playoff series, some thought his career might be over. Now. at age 72, he returns with the Astros -- still dealing with residual baggage from their tainted 2017 title run -- to face the Braves. Up till now, his only ring came from the '81 Dodgers, who, after dropping the first two games, rolled past the Yankees in four straight. So Dusty still has unfinished business. Brian Snitker is a different kind of baseball lifer. He's spent his 45-year entire career in...

Here's Yordan Álvarez and the same kind of swing that produced a four-for-four game Friday night and a .522 average for the series, as the Astros closed out the Red Sox in the ALCS. Eddie Rosario has been the other breakout star of this post-season. A .560 batting average with three home runs -- including that game changing three-run blast in the Braves NLCS-clinching victory over the Dodgers. Typical of coaches who never made the majors as players, Oliver Marmol has been anonymous and hard to spot in the dugout. Not realizing I should have kept an eye out for him while shooting the Cardinals/Mets game in September, this is the best image I found of the man who's about to take over for Mike Schildt. Finally, my Wayback of the Week: From June 1991 at Wrigley Field, Howard Johnson gets ready for a Mets/Cubs game.  

October 22nd, 2016: The Cubs win their first pennant since 1945, as Kyle Hendricks and Aroldis Chapman shut out the Dodgers 5-0 in the sixth and final game of the NLCS. October 22nd, 2011: Albert Pujols becomes the third player ever to hit three home runs in a World Series game -- joining Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson -- in the Cardinals 16 - 7 win over the Texas Rangers, in Game 3 of the World Series. The Cardinals superstar connected for hits in his final five times up: two singles and those three historic home runs. His six RBIs on the night also ties a World Series record. October 22nd, 2001: Home runs by Paul O'Neill, Bernie Williams and Tino Martinez and strong pitching by series MVP Andy Pettite (who took a shutout into the 7th inning) are the keys to a 12-3 win over the Seattle Mariners as the Yankees win the American League Championship series in five games. The pennant was the Yankees' 38th. The Mariners joined baseball's only other 116-win team as a postseason dud...

Whitey Ford , was, plain and simple, the greatest starting pitcher in Yankees history. Like teammate Phil Rizzuto, (and of course, Lou Gehrig) he was the rare native New Yorker to excel for his home town team. 236 career victories, a 10-time All Star, owner of the longstanding record World Series scoreless streak and the 1961 Cy Young Award are just some of the highlights that punched his ticket to Cooperstown.   Zack Greinke is compiling career numbers that put him in the conversation for the Hall of Fame: 219 wins and 2809 strikeouts look even more impressive in this, or any, era. After starring for the Royals, Brewers and Diamondbacks, he's now with the Astros, where, a neck injury slowed him near the end of the season. Still, he and his teammates stand one victory away from their second World Series appearance in three years. John Flaherty   lived his boyhood dream: growing up in suburban Rockland County, he capped his 14 year major league career as the Yankees backu...

From the Yankees/Angels game last August 16th, DJ LeMahieu and Joey Gallo get stylish with their bat flips after being walked.  Later that same game, DJ walked again, as I caught the flip from the 1st base line.

The Angels and Giants opened the World Series in Anaheim on this night in 2002 -- the first time that two Wild Card teams faced off in baseball's Fall Classic. Could it happen again this year? The Red Sox have bludgeoned the Astros to take a two games to one lead in the ALCS, while the 106-win Dodgers, trailing the Braves two games to none, have all the firepower they need to turn that series around.  The days of only first place-teams making the post-season are over. The four division plan that served from 1969 to '93 is a distant memory. And a new labor agreement could well include the playoffs increasing from 10 to as many as 14 clubs. We'll learn more in the months to come. My last visit to the Big A came in 2008 for a pre-season Freeway Series game between the Angels and Dodgers. One of the ballpark's distinctive features is the palm-tree shaded outdoor concessions area. It even makes overpriced fast food taste good. 

Hearing that the Cardinals fired manager Mike Schildt over "philosophical differences" ignites my cynical side. A 17-game winning streak? Grabbing a wild card spot -- only to lose to the 106-win Dodgers? There's got to be more to this story. Eddie Rosario (seen back in his Minnesota days) went above and beyond Sunday night. He capped a four-hit game with a walk-off single as the Braves stunned the Dodgers 5-4 to go up two games to none in the NLCS.  Things should get a little harder for Atlanta Tuesday night when the series shifts to Dodger Stadium. Still, watching the team that was rebuilt on the fly after losing stars such as Ronald Acuña Junior and Marcell Ozuna, push back against the defending champs is fascinating. Rafael Devers made history Saturday night. His 2nd inning grand slam (an inning after one by teammate J.D. Martinez) made the Red Sox the first club ever to have multiple home runs with the bases loaded in the same post-season game. First time in 120 years...

October 15th, 2008: Cole Hamels pitches a complete game for his second win of the series (to earn series MVP), while Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell deliver RBI singles. The Phillies take the NLCS with a 5-1 victory over the Dodgers for their first pennant in 15 years. October 15th, 2001: The Yankees (over the A's) and Diamondbacks (beating the Cardinals) win their respective Division Series in five games and advance toward an eventual World Series pairing. October 15th, 1997: Tony Fernandez's 11th inning homer gives the Indians a 1-0 win over the Orioles to take the ALCS in six games -- and send them to the World Series for the second time in three years. October 15th, 1988: Kirk Gibson's World Series Moment. Unable to start due to knee and hamstring injuries, his pinch hit home run in the bottom of the 9th gives the Dodgers a 5-4 opening game win over the Oakland A's -- as L.A. goes on to win it all in five. It was truly a night for the Gibsons, as pop star...

  ...you share it with Patrick Mazeika . The red-bearded catcher was called up from the minors during an injury wave in May and quickly made his presence known in several Mets victories. In fact, this Massachusetts native is the first player since 1920 to have multiple walk-off RBIs in his first four big league games. Kole Calhoun  hits for power -- highlighted by a 33 homer season with the 2019 Angels. Now with the Diamondbacks, he missed much of this year with knee problems. Joe Girardi ,  the 17th former Yankee to manage the team succeeded Joe Torre and spent a decade on the job -- highlighted by winning the 2009 World Series. Over a 10 season tenure, his Yankees compiled a 910 - 710 record, the sixth most wins in franchise history. That run ended after his youthful 2017 club lost the ALCS to the Astros -- amidst rumblings that he didn't get along well with some of his young players, such as Gary Sanchez.. Following two years with MLB Network, he took over the Phillies...

The Dodgers' 7-2 Tuesday night win sends the NLDS to a fifth and deciding game. With hints of 1951 and '62 -- which, in today's jargon, were really play-in series -- the forever rivals will play one game to see who advances, and who heads home. Almost every fan knows the name Bobby Thomson, and 1951  his "Shot Around the World," that still ranks among the most famous walk-offs ever. By contrast, the '62 series was decided by a less dramatic four-run Giants rally. Trailing 4-2 entering the top of the 9th at Dodger Stadium, San Francisco pieced together four runs without a singular "moment." Willie Mays scored the go-ahead run when Stan Williams walked Jim Davenport with the bases loaded. Now 90 and making far fewer public appearances, it would be sweet if Willie could be on hand and be honored before Thursday's first pitch. San Francisco's Oracle Park will host the game; it was branded as AT&T when I visited in 2014. Finally, this pub, a b...

Kiké Hernandez delivered the Red Sox second walk off performance in two nights, as they closed out the Rays and advanced to the ALCS. Seen here in April against the Mets, the former Dodger crushed a fly ball to deep left-center, enabling Danny Santana to score from 3rd. The rollercoaster game -- where the Boston jumped out to a 5-0 lead, then saw Tampa Bay pull even in the 8th -- again underscored the Red Sox resiliency and tenacity. After the Rays pulled even, they still had Randy Arozarena on 2nd with no one out -- until rookie standout Garrett Whitlock retired the trio of Wander Franco, Brandon Lowe and Nelson Cruz in order. Once again, Tampa Bay had the chance to grab the lead and take command -- but were held off by Red Sox relievers. That 6-5 win -- hours after the delayed 2021 running of the Boston Marathon -- gives the Capital of New England one of its best two-way sports days in recent memory.  

Christian Vasquez (seen here against the Mets last April) used a similar swing for his 13th inning walk-off homer that crushed the Rays late on Sunday night. Say what you want about the ruling on Kevin Kiermaier's ground rule double, the  Red Sox catcher delivered what could be remembered as the shot that fueled Boston's post-season. We'll see if Tampa Bay can punch back later today. Julio Urias (seen as a Dodger rookie in 2016), delivered two way production Saturday night, throwing five strong innings and earning the win over the Giants, and contributing a 2nd inning RBI single as LA even the Division Series over their forever rivals. Leury Garcia (seen here in 2019) smacked the game-turning homer Sunday night that kept the White Sox season. Down 5-3 in the bottom of the 3rd, his three-run bomb gave Chicago the lead to stay as they roared from 5-1 down to beat the Astros. Freddie Freeman  got the Braves off and rolling Saturday night as they tied their series with the...

October 8 th , 2018: Brock Holt is the first player ever to hit for the cycle in a post-season game, as the Red Sox crush the Yankees 16-1 in game three of the American League Division Series.  A 9th-inning homer caps an outburst that began with  a single and triple during Boston's seven-run fourth, along with an 8th inning double. October 8 th , 2011: Chris Carpenter fires a three-hit shutout over the Phillies in the fifth and deciding game of the National League Division Series. Skip Schumaker's 1 st inning double scores Rafael Furcal with the deciding run of the series. The game ends as Ryan Howard of the Phils tears his achilles on the game's final play – symbolically ending the club's six-year mini-dynasty. October 8 th , 2007: Grady Sizemore leads off the game homering off Chien-Ming Wang; Cleveland never relinquishes the lead, beating the Yankees 6-4 in the Bronx to win the American League Division Series – the final game of Joe Torre's historic 12-sea...