Commentary: The Heartbeat

(Listen daily for the RP Commentary on All New Hits 98 & LTD Radio)

It’s Tuesday and time for the Good, the Great & the Ugly!

First the good: The World Series has been good, but not great. That’s because the Blue Jays now trail it 2-games-to-1, following a 6-5 loss in 18 innings to the LA Dodgers on Monday. Yes, it was the longest game in World Series history.

Freddy Freeman did the damage – no longer the Canadian hero – smashing a walkoff homer to the deepest part of the park in the bottom of the 18th to secure the Dodgers win.

19 pitchers were used. 10 by LA. And now Game 4 tonite featuring Shane Bieber versus Shohei Ohtani. What a series.

Next the great: CFL Commissioner Stewart Johnston was in Regina Monday announcing that the 2027 Grey Cup will be played in Regina on the earliest date ever; November 7.

Hey – it’s all great, even if the announcement seemingly came out of the blue and the fact we’re all focused right now on the 2025 Grey Cup, next month in Winnipeg.

Cue the predictable grumbling about the season being moved up, and the fact the 2027 Grey Cup in Regina will mark four straight years and counting that the CFL title game will be played in the West.

Actually it’s great — the CFL is waking up to the fact the heartbeat of the League is in Western Canada. Money talks.

And finally the ugly: I don’t gotta scan my memory bank too far to recall the ugliest story in sports right now.

It’s the Calgary Flames.

Their 2-7-1 start is tied for their worst ever, and they’re dead last in the NHL standings three weeks into the season.

It has us wondering if last year’s 96-point campaign was a fluke, and now all moves the club has made the past few years are under the microscope.

In all that time I spent in Calgary, one thing I heard was that the Flames have never lost money.

I guess there’s that.

That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary.

(Sign Up For the Rod Squad Newsletter for insider columns, Hot Takes, contests & more!)