Editor's note: Only the marquee game carries a Vegas line right now. The rest of the slate runs without picks until our model ships. Every game below is tracked at watch.uristocrat.com.
Wednesday is a getaway day with 17 baseball games across 15 matchups, and two of those are doubleheaders forced by Tuesday's rain. The Pirates and Yankees play at 1:05 PM ET and again at 7:05 PM ET. The Orioles and Red Sox do the same at 1:35 PM ET and 7:10 PM ET. The WNBA stacks six more games on top of that. But the one to circle is in Philadelphia, where the Dodgers and Phillies settle a series that's tied at one.
Marquee: Dodgers at Phillies, series finale (6:40 PM ET, NBC Sports Philadelphia and SportsNet LA)
Los Angeles has the best record in baseball at 64-38. Philadelphia is 56-46. And the line is close to a coin flip, which tells you Vegas is pricing the pitching and ignoring the standings. The Phillies give the ball to Aaron Nola, who is 3-7 with a 5.68 ERA and has been the problem in that rotation all summer. The Dodgers counter with Eric Lauer at 4-5, 4.81. The teams split the first two: Philadelphia took the opener 10-7, then Los Angeles won 2-1 on Tuesday behind a Max Muncy two-run homer and six and a third from Justin Wrobleski, per ESPN's recap. Zack Wheeler struck out nine in that game and got nothing for it. Tonight decides the series.
Vegas line: Dodgers -120, Phillies +100, total 9.5. Run line Dodgers -1.5 (+129). Pulled from ESPN's MLB odds page, DraftKings pricing.
Also today
- Mets at Brewers (2:10 PM ET). Best pitching matchup on the board, and it's a weekday afternoon game almost nobody will watch. Christian Scott and his 2.87 ERA against Logan Henderson at 2.97. Milwaukee is 63-38, one game back of the Dodgers for the best record in the National League. The Mets are 43-59 and just shut them out 4-0.
- Rays at Blue Jays (7:07 PM ET). Tampa Bay is 58-42, the best record in the American League, and they hung 12 runs on Toronto on Tuesday. The Blue Jays are 46-55 and out of road.
- Padres at Braves (7:15 PM ET). Michael King (3.34) against Martin Perez (3.54) in Atlanta. San Diego is 50-51 and won 8-3 on Tuesday anyway. The Braves are 58-42 and shouldn't be dropping a home series here.
- Tigers at Cubs (8:00 PM ET, ESPN). The national game. Chicago is 57-44 and beat Detroit 11-2 on Tuesday. Keider Montero brings the better ERA at 3.22 against Colin Rea's 4.74, which is most of why this isn't a blowout on paper.
- Aces at Mystics (7:30 PM ET). Las Vegas is 18-7. Washington is 13-12 and sitting right on the playoff line. Most standings weight of any WNBA game tonight.
- Sun at Fever (8:00 PM ET, USA Network). Indiana is 16-10, Connecticut is 7-19. It's on national TV anyway, which tells you what the league thinks people tune in for.
The thread today is that records and probables disagree. The best team in baseball is barely favored on the road against a club ten games worse, because the guy pitching for Philadelphia has been bad since June. Same story in Chicago, where the losing team has the better starter. July is when reading the probables beats reading the standings.
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