The World Series is a big deal to the participating schools and the collection of local communities divided by the Snake and Clearwater Rivers, and — magnified by a glance at social media — also divided by a myriad of other things both trivial and deeply consequential.

Sports, and the NAIA World Series in particular, have the unique ability to rally hundreds of otherwise strangers under one banner, casting aside whatever differences and biases they may harbor for a couple hours of bliss.

For a matter of hours as the sun sets over the distant hills, hundreds live and breathe off every pitch, every swing, every failure, every triumph. It’s a beautiful thing.

However, as someone who spent three years 34 miles up the road from Harris Field’s home plate, it wasn’t until getting a job at the Lewiston Morning Tribune and moving to our dear valley from Pullman that I even heard of the NAIA World Series.

Of course, school was out of session and I was not in Pullman during past iterations of this sacred event. In my nearly two years of living in the valley, I’ve come to realize how both interconnected and isolated Lewiston and Clarkston can be from the Palouse.

Now, I’m sure that there are a slew of World Series regulars who make the trip down the Lewiston hill every year for the event. There’s a major difference between a student in these towns and a local.

Regardless of how broad or contained local excitement for the World Series is, there are a lot of reasons you should care about the event this year, no matter where you live.

For one, the Lewis-Clark State Warriors are back.

After LCSC was eliminated in the Opening Round each of the last two years, the school made a change at the top and brought back its former coach, Jeremiah Robbins.

Robbins, whose LC Warrior squads played for the national championship in five of his six years and won it all in three straight years from 2015-17, has the Warriors back in the World Series with a reimagined roster that boasts perhaps the most complete pitching staff in the NAIA and an offense rich with heavy hitters.