5 chart-topping songs from 1985 that explain the Blue Jays-Royals ALCS

On Friday night, the Blue Jays and Royals will meet in the ALCS with a lot on the line. Not just the usual win-or-go-home, ticket-to-the-World-Series stakes, but this year's ALCS brings a considerable amount of history with it, too. Just consider: It has been 22 years since the Blue Jays won the 1993 World Series, their last championship. It has been 30 years since the Royals won in 1985. In order to get to that championship, the Royals had to go through none other than the Blue Jays in the ALCS, coming back from a 3-1 series deficit to win in seven games.

And now we're getting a redux that, if you looked at the Billboard Hot 100 from the week of the '85 ALCS, was destined to be all along.

... Wait, wait, wait. Before you dismiss the power of chart-toppers' premonitions, just check out these five songs that were burning up the radio the last time Toronto and Kansas City met in late October. It's as if the '80s hit-makers knew the Blue Jays and Royals would face off 30 years later. Because these songs kinda/sorta explain exactly how the two teams got here.

"The Night Is Still Young" by Billy Joel

Game 4 of the ALDS was particularly nerve-wracking for the Royals, as the Astros took a four-run lead in the bottom of the seventh. But as if Billy Joel was right in the dugout with them, the Royals had a simple mantra: "The Night Is Still Young." There were still two innings to stave off elimination, no matter who was counting them out. So the Royals went out there, singing to themselves, "I know we got to work real hard, maybe even for the rest of our lives / But right now I just want to take what I can get tonight," and scored seven runs to win, 9-6.

"Dare Me" by The Pointer Sisters

"I've got a chip on my shoulder / With your name on it" -- The Pointer Sisters, and also Jose Bautista as he stepped to the plate with two runners on during the seventh inning in Game 5 of the ALDS, immediately before he launched the most emphatic home run of this postseason.

"Who's Zoomin Who?" by Aretha Franklin

Jarrod Dyson. He's zoomin' everybody, just look at his haircut, or his speed on the basepaths.

"Broken Wings" by Mr. Mister

Back in the sixth inning of Wednesday's game, before that Bautista home run redefined the phrase "bat flip," the Blue Jays were trailing the Rangers, 2-1. And then Edwin Encarnacion tied the game with a solo home run that sang directly to the postseason: "This time might be the last / Unless I make it all too clear I need you so."

And we don't know so much about the broken part, but Encarnacion certainly let the parrot wings fly.

"Take On Me" by a-ha

After the teams clinched their berths to the ALCS, they turned to one another. Cue a-ha's ubiquitous hit: