Mike McCann's Field of Fotos

It was 29 years ago: Ronald Reagan was president, Johnny Carson was still TV's King of Late Night. You could still buy a Plymouth, Pontiac or Mercury. No one had heard of a Tesla -- or an iPad, for that matter. At the movies, it was Teen Wolf, Volunteers and After Hours. And on the radio, Top 40 radio meant "Money For Nothing," "Take on Me," "Saving All My Love for You" and "Dress You Up."  Dressed in white and blue, the Kansas City Royals outlasted the St. Louis Cardinals in the I-70 World Series, matching Missouri's two major league teams. Who would have imagined that would not only be the last Royals championship team, but also their last playoff team. With an offense built around young stars like Eric Hosmer (above), Salvador Perez, Alex Gordon and Lorenzo Cain, the Royals are finally back in the dance. They're home tonight to open the 2014 post-season, hosting the Athletics in the play-in game -- with the winner moving onto the...

Jordan Zimmermann, seen here with teammate Jayson Werth at Citi Field on September 11th, served up a spectacular end to the regular season with a no-hitter against the Marlins. It was the first for Nationals since they moved to DC -- and the first no-hitter thrown by a Washington pitcher on their home turf since 1931! How impressive was the 28 year Wisconsin native? Out of 104 pitches thrown, only 25 were balls. Zimmermann struck out 10 and walked just one. And keep in mind, he was working with virtually no margin for error -- Ian Desmond's solo homer gave the Nationals their only run. And let's not overlook Steven Souza's leaping catch to nail down the final out. Even on an off-day, as seen above, you can see the confidence he exudes. Quite a way to ring down the curtain -- where, under rookie manager Matt Williams, the Nats had the best regular season record in the league, and will hold home field advantage in the NLDS (against the Wild Card survivor) and NLCS.

Led by the again-powerful bat of Albert Pujols, the Angels have put together the American League's best record so far this season. Since the All Star break, Mike Scioscia's club has caught and then pulled away from the Athletics, thanks to a balanced attack and quality pitching -- even with the mid-season loss of their young ace Garrett Richards. Now they await the wild card survivor for the ALDS with the hope of bringing a second World Series title to Orange County.

Frank Capra couldn't have scripted this any better. Last night, Derek Jeter's final game at Yankee Stadium was as successful as it could be: the rain stopped, the skies began to clear and The Captain took the field in the Bronx for the final time. He singled in the Yankees first run in the bottom of the 1st inning; moments later, he scored to tie the game. In the 7th, his bases-loaded grounder drove in the go-ahead run -- only to have the Orioles tie the game on a couple of home runs off David Robertson in the top of the 9th. Moments later, the disappointment turned into one final thrill. (These images are from Derek Jeter Day on September 7th.) Rookie Jose Pirela singled to lead off the inning; Antoan Richardson ran for him. Brett Gardner bunted him over. That set the stage for Jeter. Facing Orioles reliever Evan Meek, he hit a sharp grounder his favorite way -- between 1st and 2nd base -- allowing Richardson to score the winning run. Three RBIs on the night, capped by ...

...20-year old rookie Joe Torre made his debut for the Milwaukee Braves and singled in his first major league at-bat. Leading off the 8th inning against Pittsburgh's Harvey Haddix, he pinch hit for another future Hall of Famer, Warren Spahn. Milwaukee went onto beat the Pirates in 10 innings 4 - 2 on a two-run walk-off homer by yet another future Cooperstown enshrinee, Eddie Mathews. That career, on the field, and in the dugout as manager of the most recent Yankee dynasty, led to Joe's induction into the Hall of Fame in July, and the retirement of his uniform number-six in August.

The Giants appear on their way to at least a wild card. But their hopes for advancing in the post-season took a big hit Tuesday when they learned that center fielder and lead off man Angel Pagan needed back surgery and was done for the year. A .300 hitter with 16 stolen bases in 96 games, the former Met has been a steadily productive player since coming to San Francisco three years ago. Now, with less than a week before the playoffs begin -- likely starting with that "play-in" game against the Pirates -- manager Bruce Bochy has to replace Pagan's numbers and intangibles. As the San Francisco Chronicle  noted, the Giants were 56-35 in games Pagan started and 29-36 when he did not, a trend that's been consistent since his his arrival in 2012.

Andrew McCutchen homered for the only run in the Pirates 1 - 0 Monday night win over the Braves, as Pittsburgh edged closer to its second straight post-season appearance.  The home run was the 24th for the reigning National League MVP -- who's hitting .310 on the season and leading the National League in on-base percentage. With offense down all around baseball, McCutchen is going to be one of the most-feared batters entering the playoffs, along with Mike Trout, Nelson Cruz and Victor Martinez. Want to suggest any other names? Click on "comment" and share your thoughts.