Daily Sports: Monday Night On The Beltway

It’s going to be a busy night on the Beltway, from the opening Monday Night Football game, to key playoff race baseball. The patch of I-95 between Washington D.C. and Baltimore should be packed, with the cities of Philadelphia and New York also involved, Monday night’s daily sports amounts to a virtual Mid-Atlantic war.

The Washington Redskins host the Philadelphia Eagles in a 6:55 PM ET start on ESPN, the first part of what’s become a new tradition, that of a doubleheader on the first Monday night of the NFL season. At the same time, just north in Baltimore, you have the New York Yankees in town to face the Baltimore Orioles in a 7 PM ET start on MLB Network.

Baltimore has nudged past New York in the wild-card standings, with the Orioles, along with the Indians now two games back of Tampa Bay for the final playoff spot, the Yanks in hot pursuit at 2 ½ back, and Kansas City right in the mix, at 3 ½ out. It’s five teams for one spot, although I still wonder if Texas isn’t going to slide back a bit and make it six teams for two spots.

ESPN takes it cameras to the west coast for the Monday Night Football nightcap. The San Diego Chargers host the Houston Texans in a 10:15 PM ET kickoff.

TheSportsNotebook’s college football coverage has explored the key games of Week 2, and updated BCS bowl projections, in light of losses by South Carolina, Notre Dame and Texas. We’ll have MLB coverage coming up later today, looking at the playoff race in general and specifically, how the Boston Red Sox have blown open the AL East.