Editor's note: only the marquee game carries a line, and that line comes straight off the sportsbook. The Uristocrat picks model is not live yet. Until it is, the full slate lives on watch.uristocrat.com.
Sunday belongs to the American League East. Boston and New York close a four-game set at Yankee Stadium with three games separating them in the standings, and the Red Sox get two bats back for it. After that the day turns national: NBC has the Astros and Mets in the afternoon and the Reds and Cubs at night, and the WNBA runs a four-game slate headlined by the best team in the league.
Marquee: Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees, AL East series finale (1:35 p.m. ET, ESPN)
The Yankees came into the weekend at 77-59 and the Red Sox at 74-62, and New York holds a 2-1 edge in the series after taking the back half of Saturday's doubleheader 9-2. Boston gets reinforcements for the finale: ESPN reports Roman Anthony and Trevor Story rejoin the lineup. The pitching matchup is the reason the market leans Boston. Ranger Suarez goes for the Red Sox against Will Warren, and a split here keeps the division race honest through September. A Yankees win pushes the lead to four with the schedule tightening.
Vegas line: Red Sox -141, Yankees +131, total 8 (-110 both ways), run line Boston -1.5. Odds via ESPN, sourced from DraftKings.
Also today
- Houston Astros at New York Mets (3:10 p.m. ET, NBC). The rubber game of the series. Houston is 68-68 and still in the AL wild card picture. The Mets are 61-75 and playing for next year, which makes this a straight test of whether Houston can beat a team it should beat.
- Philadelphia Phillies at Los Angeles Angels (4:07 p.m. ET). Philadelphia is 76-60 and took a 4-2 extra-inning win on Saturday behind Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner. The Angels are 52-84 and on a losing streak. Late-season West Coast trips are where contenders quietly give games away.
- Cincinnati Reds at Chicago Cubs (7:20 p.m. ET, NBC). The night cap on NBC. Chicago is 77-59, tied with the Yankees for the best record on today's board, and Pete Crow-Armstrong just put up a three-homer game. Cincinnati sits at 64-72.
- Seattle Mariners at Toronto Blue Jays (1:37 p.m. ET). Seattle brings a three-game losing streak into Rogers Centre. Two AL teams with October intentions, and the Mariners need to stop the bleeding before the calendar flips.
- Minnesota Lynx at Atlanta Dream (3:00 p.m. ET, NBA TV). The best game on the WNBA slate. Minnesota is 31-8 and Atlanta is 25-14, so this is a top-seed measuring stick with playoff seeding actually on the line.
- Golden State Valkyries at Portland Fire (7:00 p.m. ET). Golden State is 28-11 in year two and Portland is 16-23 in year one. The expansion class is not moving at the same speed, and this is the clearest look at that gap.
The thread today is separation. Boston and New York are three games apart, the Cubs and Yankees are tied atop the day's records, and Minnesota is trying to make the top seed a formality. September starts tomorrow, and the teams that handle this Sunday cleanly are the ones that stop needing help.
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