Daily Sports: Cards-Pirates Finale On Thursday

The first day of August is here, and we have a basic idea of how the contenders are going to look the rest of the way, with the passage of the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. And we’ll kick off the month by concluding the big five-game series in the NL Central, as the St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates play in PNC Park tonight (7 PM ET, MLB).

Baseball is the cornerstone of Thursday’s daily sports agenda, and you can also delve into the game’s recent past on ESPN Classic. 1985 was one of the best baseball seasons of the modern era, and while the seventh game of the World Series was anticlimactic, there were no shortage of fireworks. Watch George Brett and the 1985 Kansas City Royals complete their comeback against the Cardinals.

The ’85 World Series re-broadcast starts at 1 PM ET, and after that at 5 PM ET is Game 3 of 1978 American League Championship Series. This is an underrated game in baseball lore. It was the third straight year the Royals and Yankees met in the ALCS and the only time the series didn’t go the full five games (the LCS was best-of-five until 1985), so 1978 can be overlooked. But Game 3 in the Bronx was a classic and with the series tied 1-1 it swung another pennant New York’s way.

NBA-TV is showing a whole slew of games that represent the best of the 2013 season, and it starts at 2 PM ET. The highlights would be Game 7 of the NBA Finals at 4 PM ET. The March night when the Chicago Bulls beat the Miami Heat to end the 27-game winning streak is shown at 7 PM ET.

Those of us who are Celtics fans, can re-live the agony of a blown game on March 18 when the C’s seemed to have the Heat beat at the Garden. And if you set the DVR, and wait until 5 AM ET tomorrow, you can re-watch Game 6 of the Finals, one of the great games in league history.

Here at TheSportsNotebook we’re doubling down on baseball. After yesterday’s look at the trade deadline moves, we’ll have a feature on both the American League and National League sides today as we lay the groundwork for the season’s final two months.