OAKLAND (CBS SF) - The A's and Royals get one chance to advance to the Wild Card round in a do-or-die game Tuesday, it will be a cruel end for the loser.

One team has waited decades to return to the postseason, the other looked World Series-bound before stumbling and barely eking into the playoffs on the final day. Just how long in the making is this rematch? The teams last played in 1981. Here's a refresher about what things looked like the last (and only) time the A's and Royals faced each other in the postseason:

• Mark David Chapman is sentenced for the killing of John Lennon
• Sandra Day O'Connor took her Seat on the Supreme Court
• Boeings 767 made it's first flight
• Hosni Mubarak become President of Egypt after the assassination of Anwar Sadat
• The Iran-Contra affair was in full swing, with President Ronald Reagan authorizing the CIA to recruit rebels in Nicaragua.
• Fernandomania took over the baseball world. The 20-year-old from Mexico was dominant in leading the Dodgers to the World series.

The 1981 A's-Royals series, "dubbed the American League Division Series" was the first ALDS, created as a way to compensate for the strike-shortened regular season. The A's dominated 3-0, and outscoring the Royals 10-2 in the process. The Royals haven't been to an ALDS since (but they did get a World Series ring their last playoff appearance in 1985). The A's will need a road upset to prevent Kansas City from reaching MLB's round of eight this year. First pitch is set for 5:07 p.m.

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