Daily Sports: ESPN’s AL East Doubleheader On Wednesday

ESPN’s MLB coverage is getting locked in for the playoff drive, as the network will show a rare Wednesday night doubleheader tonight, with fans watching both ends of the race for the AL East title in today’s daily sports TV docket.

It starts from Fenway Park, where the first-place Red Sox play their series finale against the AL Central-leading Detroit Tigers. Game time is 7 PM ET. Then immediately following, at 10 PM ET, we go to the West Coast, where the Tampa Bay Rays are playing the Los Angeles Angels.

The Rays hit a little hiccup last week that allowed the Sox to get some separation in the division race, but there’s still plenty of baseball left, and after Tampa Bay chased down Boston in 2011 from far further behind, no one in New England is ready to dismiss the Rays’ chances of doing it again.

If you’re hungry for college football and don’t want until Friday when the next notable games are on TV (with the NFL opener on Thursday, there are no significant college games challenging the Ravens-Broncos for ratings), then watch a replay of Alabama-Virginia Tech on ESPNU at 8 PM ET.

TheSportsNotebook’s college football coverage, recapping the notable developments of Week 1, discussed the problems the Crimson Tide had in moving the ball against the Hokies, even as ‘Bama won. If you missed the game, here’s a chance to watch and decide for yourself.

College football and the NFL will be on the mind of TheSportsNotebook today. We’ll start looking ahead at some of the games for this weekend. And yesterday, the final NFL predictions for the 2013 season were posted.