If I’m hearing from Canadian friends Matthew Iwanyk and Dave Jamieson from TSN 1260 in Edmonton, something big must be happening on the baseball calendar. Sure enough, the World Series between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros begins Tuesday night.

In addition to looking at the match-up in which the Astros are heavily favored, Dave also highlighted a couple of players from each team to discuss. We also dug into the differences between Astros manager A.J. Hinch and Nats skipper Dave Martinez.

Something else I should’ve mentioned about Juan Soto’s impact in the Nationals’ lineup is that he’s the only left-handed power bat in a run-producing spot. Opposing managers have a tougher decision when it comes to bringing in a left-handed reliever to face Soto, knowing that pitcher will then have to face the right-handed Howie Kendrick and Ryan Zimmerman. That very scenario may have bitten Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts in the decisive Game 5 of the National League Division Series.

Thanks again to Matt for inviting me on TSN 1260 to talk to Dave. It only happens a few times a year, but it’s fun when it does. And I’m grateful they still consider me somebody worth talking to on the occasions when baseball is a national — or international, since we’re talking about Canada — topic.