Editor's note: only the marquee game carries a line here. Every other game is a straight preview, no pick. Full slate and start times live at watch.uristocrat.com.
Sunday is a baseball day. Fifteen MLB games, fourteen of them before dinner, and the one that matters most is the nightcap in Milwaukee. The Brewers have the best record in baseball and a seven-game lead in the NL Central, and they've already taken the first two from Atlanta. The WNBA runs four games on top of that, including Indiana at Chicago on NBC, and the NFL preseason closes the night in Nashville.
Marquee: Atlanta Braves at Milwaukee Brewers, series finale (7:00 PM ET, ESPN)
Milwaukee is 81-49 and just pushed its division lead to seven games for the first time since late July. Saturday's 4-1 win came off a 12-pitch Jake Bauers at-bat that ended in a 413-foot homer to center, with rookie Logan Henderson going six and giving up one run, per MLB.com. Atlanta has dropped five of six and seven of nine, and they hand the ball to Tyler Mahle at 4-10 with a 4.53 ERA against Shane Drohan at 6-4, 3.86. The Braves are playing out a season that ended a while ago. The Brewers are playing for a top seed. That gap is the whole game.
Vegas line: Brewers -123, Braves +114. Total 7.5 (over -105, under -114). Run line: Brewers -1.5 (+163). Odds via ESPN.
Also today
- Indiana Fever at Chicago Sky (7:00 PM ET, NBC). The best national WNBA window of the day. Indiana is 24-14 and locked into the playoff picture. Chicago is 15-22 and playing for next year, which usually makes for a loose, ugly, watchable game.
- Las Vegas Aces at Toronto Tempo (7:00 PM ET, TSN). The Aces are 25-13 and the closest thing the league has to a favorite. Toronto is 11-25 in its first year. Worth watching for what an expansion crowd does on a Sunday night more than for the result.
- Tampa Bay Rays at Baltimore Orioles (1:35 PM ET, MASN). Tampa is 76-53 and quietly one of the three best teams in the league. Baltimore is 63-67 and out of it. Early window, low stakes for the home side, real stakes for the visitor.
- Pittsburgh Pirates at Los Angeles Dodgers (4:10 PM ET, SportsNet LA). Blake Snell starts for the Dodgers, who sit at 79-51. Pittsburgh is 63-68 and starts Lake Bachar. If you want to watch one good pitcher work, this is the afternoon slot.
- Toronto Blue Jays at New York Yankees (1:35 PM ET, YES). The Yankees are 73-56 and chasing a bye. Toronto is 64-67 and has spent August finding out what it actually has. Division game, so it still counts for something.
- Seattle Seahawks at Tennessee Titans (8:00 PM ET, FOX). Preseason. Starters will play a series if that. But it's the last football before the regular season, and the roster cuts that follow this week are the real story.
The through-line today is separation. Milwaukee, Tampa Bay, and the Dodgers are all putting distance between themselves and the field in late August, and the teams across from them are mostly auditioning players for next spring. Watch the good ones while they're still trying.
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