Editor's note: Only the marquee game carries a line right now, and that line comes straight off the sportsbook page, not from us. Everything else here is preview. Full schedules and live scores are at watch.uristocrat.com.
Thursday is a doubleheader of a different kind. The two best stories in women's basketball meet in Indianapolis at 7, football comes back in Canton at 8, and eleven baseball games fill in around them starting at lunch. If you can only clear one window, clear the evening.
Marquee: Las Vegas Aces at Indiana Fever, Gainbridge Fieldhouse (7:00 p.m. ET, Prime Video)
Las Vegas is 21-9 and second in the league, behind only Minnesota. Indiana is 19-11 and fifth, home after a 2-1 road trip. The Fever have been the best offense in the league for a month, averaging over 100 points a game through July. Kelsey Mitchell has scored 20 or more in 14 straight games, one short of A'ja Wilson's single-season streak, and Caitlin Clark picked up the fourth triple-double of her career last Friday against Portland. Wilson answered by taking Western Conference Player of the Week on Tuesday, her third of the season, after 23 points and three blocks in a 109-87 win at Atlanta. Clark (back) and Aliyah Boston (right lower leg) are both listed probable. Damiris Dantas is out.
Vegas line: Indiana -1.5 (-102), total 194.5, moneyline Fever -115 / Aces -105, per ESPN's WNBA odds page. The number opened at Indiana -122 and has drifted toward Las Vegas since.
Also today
- Carolina Panthers at Arizona Cardinals (8:00 p.m. ET, NBC). The Hall of Fame Game in Canton, which means football is back. It's preseason, so the starters will be on the field about as long as it takes you to find the remote. Watch it anyway.
- Pittsburgh Pirates at Milwaukee Brewers (2:10 p.m. ET). Milwaukee is 70-43, the best record in baseball. Pittsburgh is 57-58 and playing for next year. The Brewers keep proving that a deep bullpen beats a big payroll.
- Toronto Blue Jays at Chicago Cubs (2:20 p.m. ET). Day baseball at Wrigley, Cubs at 66-49 and holding third-best in the National League. Toronto is 54-61 and going the other way. If you only get one afternoon game, take this one.
- Los Angeles Sparks at Minnesota Lynx (9:00 p.m. ET, Prime Video). The Lynx are 25-6, the best record in the WNBA, and they have made the top seed look routine. The Sparks are 11-17. Minnesota is worth an hour on its own.
- Chicago White Sox at Boston Red Sox (7:10 p.m. ET). The White Sox are 59-53 in August, which nobody had on their card. Boston is 61-51 and hosting at Fenway. Two teams nobody expected to find within a few games of each other.
- San Diego Padres at Arizona Diamondbacks (9:40 p.m. ET). Arizona is 60-54, San Diego is 59-55, and Chase Field decides which one leaves the night ahead. One game apart in August is the kind of margin that gets settled in head-to-heads like this.
The thread today is teams that were not supposed to be here. Milwaukee has the best record in baseball on one of the smaller payrolls in it. The White Sox are over .500 in August. Indiana is putting up 100 a night. And in Canton, everybody is 0-0 again for one more week. Full slate and live scores at watch.uristocrat.com.
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