Editor's note: only the marquee game carries a Vegas line for now. The rest of the slate is here to help you set your night, not to hand you a bet. Live scores, start times, and where to watch every game are on watch.uristocrat.com.
It is a World Cup day in America, and that reorders everything. Three knockout matches run from lunchtime into the night, one of them inside the building where the Giants and Jets play. Underneath that, the WNBA hands out its first trophy of the season when the Aces and Liberty meet for the Commissioner's Cup, and a full fifteen-game MLB slate fills the rest of the evening. Here is what to put on.
World Cup today
These are knockout matches. Win and you move on, lose and you fly home, and all three kick off in their own window so you can watch them back to back.
- Norway vs Ivory Coast (1:00 PM ET, FOX). The day opens at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. Two sides that spent the group stage proving they belonged now get a single afternoon to keep the run alive.
- Sweden vs France (5:00 PM ET, FOX). France walk in as one of the heavyweights of the tournament, two-time champions with the kind of squad depth that wins knockout games. Sweden have made a habit of bloodying favorites at major tournaments. This one is at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
- Ecuador vs Mexico (9:00 PM ET, FOX). The host nation closes the night at Estadio Banorte in Mexico City, in front of a home crowd that has waited a long time for a World Cup on its own soil. Ecuador are the spoilers.
Marquee: Aces vs Liberty, the Commissioner's Cup final (7:00 PM ET, Prime Video)
This is the WNBA's in-season tournament final, a one-game championship at Barclays Center with prize money on the line and nothing carrying over to the standings. The two best teams in the league got here, and they just played a week ago. On June 23 the Liberty handled the Aces 87-76 and held A'ja Wilson, the league's leading scorer, to 16 points. Wilson is the engine of everything Las Vegas does, so New York's plan is no secret: make her work for every touch and dare the rest of the Aces to beat them. The Liberty are the defending WNBA champions and they are home, which is why Vegas has them laid out as the favorite.
Vegas line: Liberty -5.5, total 174.5, moneyline Aces +170 / Liberty -205 (DraftKings via ESPN).
Also tonight
- Tigers at Yankees (7:05 PM ET). The pick of the baseball night and the one with a national window on TBS and Prime Video. The Yankees sit at 48-36 and the Tigers have fallen to 36-49, so this is New York looking to bank an easy one against a team going the wrong way.
- Cardinals at Braves (7:15 PM ET). Atlanta has the second-best record in baseball at 49-33 and is the team to beat in the NL East. St. Louis at 43-38 is hanging around the wild card race, so there are real standings stakes here for the visitors.
- Reds at Brewers (7:40 PM ET). Milwaukee owns the best record in the National League at 51-31 and keeps quietly running away with the Central. Cincinnati at 39-44 needs games like this to stay relevant.
- Rays at Royals (7:40 PM ET). Tampa Bay at 48-33 has been one of the surprises of the first half. Kansas City at 35-50 has had the opposite kind of season, which makes the Rays the team worth tuning in for.
- Padres at Cubs (8:05 PM ET). Two clubs hovering in the playoff picture, San Diego at 43-40 and Chicago at 47-38. A clean measuring-stick game between teams that both expect to be playing in October.
- Dodgers at Athletics (9:40 PM ET). The nightcap. Los Angeles has the best record in baseball at 55-30 and the A's at 40-45 are the underdog at home. If you are still up on the West Coast, this is the one.
Soccer carries the day, but the real drama is the trophy at 7. The Aces and Liberty have traded the league's top spot for two years, and a one-game final at Barclays is the cleanest version of that fight you are going to get before the playoffs. Then the World Cup comes back to close the night in Mexico City. Set the lineup early.
Comments