Yankee Stadium, an infamous con artist, a big score and a crew that could only be made better with Neal and Mozzie on board, even as they played the eyes and ears of the FBI?

Indeed, White Collar swung for the fences in "Stealing Home," which marked Tim DeKay's directorial debut and served as an epic lead-in to what will no doubt be an intense season finale next week.

But that's next week.

Here, nothing could have been more fitting than temptation ruling the day, given that Neal's commutation hearing is only a few days away. Yet the closer we get to the finale, the more convinced I am that Neal really does have his heart set on staying in the Big Apple.

Even as Neal's intentions appear purer and purer, it seems Agent Kramer's are becoming less and less so. As Kramer and his team continued to occupy the New York FBI office, scouring through Neal's letters to Kate, they seemed intent on finding something, which was revealed in the code they cracked. We can only wonder what that that will lead them to.

Another question that came to mind: Will Mozzie stay if Neal stays? I have never seen him more in awe of another human being than he was of Taylor. Then again, who wouldn't be? The guy has a villa and even his victims think he's a nice guy!

Perhaps my favorite part about Taylor was the whole pool game interview. I didn't know you could tell so many things about a person from the way they play pool. Clearly, Neal's skills are exceptional. That last shot seemed pretty impossible, but clearly little is ever impossible for Neal Caffrey.

Speaking of which, do you believe that Neal used to drop by a billiards hall on his way home from school back in St. Louis? At this point, little surprises me about the guy, but I would love to have another flashback episode to when he was really young, like 10 or 11.

I would be remiss to conclude without tipping my hat to Dekay's directorial skills in this episode. It's hard work to be both behind the camera and in front of it, so props to him on that. Furthermore, Tim's passion for baseball, clearly reflected in Peter, resulted in some wonderful shots of the new Yankee Stadium. I have never been more intrigued or inspired by the sport.

Who knew that Peter had major league dreams? Or that he actually played for a while? There's always more to learn about these characters, and it's fun to think that Peter had a whole other realm of career possibilities.

It's almost finally here: the White Collar season finale. Any predictions for how the commutation hearing might go? Or how Agent Kramer might play a role in it?

C. Charles is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.