Real football is back starting tonight. No more preseason games, no more replays from last year on ESPN Classic or the NFL Network. The 2013 college football season kicks off tonight and sets the tone for Thursday’s daily sports agenda.
The AL East has more contenders than any team in baseball, with four teams in hot pursuit of at least a wild-card, and two teams in a neck-and-neck battle for first place. Both sides of that race come together in a big game Wednesday night that highlights the sports fan’s daily sports agenda.
The NL Central race was the focus of Monday in daily sports, and so it is again on Tuesday. The second game of the Reds-Cardinals series from St. Louis is the cornerstone of the sports fans’ TV agenda tonight, and will go at 8 PM ET on the MLB Network.
The race for the NL Central title is the only real drama going in the National League playoff race, as we seem to know the five teams that will qualify for the postseason, with three in the Central. But thanks to MLB’s two-year old playoff format, who finishes in first place is of great consequence. And that makes tonight’s Cincinnati-St. Louis game of great consequence.
Four teams that are among the favorites to reach the World Series get baseball’s Sunday showcase today, between TBS’ afternoon coverage and ESPN’s prime-time billing.
It’s a marquee baseball matchup on Fox that sets the tone for Saturday’s daily sports agenda. The Los Angeles Dodgers are the hottest team in MLB, the new betting-line favorite to win the World Series, and they’ll be hosting the Boston Red Sox in a 4 PM ET start. The Red Sox have slipped percentage points behind Tampa Bay in the AL East.
The four-game series between the Atlanta Braves and the St. Louis Cardinals continues on Friday. MLB Network carries the Braves-Cards for the second straight night and the 8 PM ET game is the highlight of the daily sports agenda.
The NL Central race is the daily sports focus on the MLB Network today, starting with matinee action in Cincinnati and concluding with a big prime-time game in St. Louis.
At the start of this week, TheSportsNotebook featured the Baltimore Orioles and noted that they were starting an enormous 15-game stretch against good teams that could make or break their playoff chances. Two close losses at home to the Tampa Bay Rays are how that stretch has started out, so the stakes are high tonight in Camden Yards. And the cameras of ESPN2 are on hand, as Buck Showalter hands the ball to rotation ace Wei-Yin Chen to try and stop the bleeding in a 7 PM ET game.
MLB Network will split its coverage on Tuesday night, but whether you get the American League game or the National League option, you’re going to have a big battle in the playoff race. It’s Rays-Orioles from Camden Yards, and Diamondbacks-Reds suiting up on the banks of the Ohio River, starting at 7 PM ET.
The AL East race is the focus of daily sports on Monday, with consecutive prime-time games on MLB Network and ESPN2 featuring the three teams with a realistic chance at winning the division title.
We’re not far from the day when daily sports on Sunday means a tripleheader of NFL football, but for now, the prime focus is still a day-night doubleheader in baseball, with TBS and ESPN on the call. So it is again today.