Editor's note: only the marquee game carries a Vegas line here. The rest of the slate is listed without picks until our model ships. Every game links to its live tile on watch.uristocrat.com.
September baseball with nothing else on the calendar. Fifteen MLB games today, and the one that matters most is in Philadelphia, where the Phillies are running out of runway in the NL East. Atlanta won the opener 5-2 on Friday and pushed the lead to five games. The Yankees and Padres meet again in San Diego after a walk-off loss, and Jacob deGrom takes the ball in Texas against the team with the best record in the American League.
Marquee: Braves at Phillies, NL East on the line (6:05 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Philadelphia / BravesVision)
Atlanta is 84-57 and Philadelphia is 79-62, so this is a five-game gap with three weeks left. The Braves took Friday's opener 5-2 and lead the series 1-0. Philadelphia hands the ball to Zack Wheeler, which is the right move in a game they have to have. Atlanta counters with Martin Perez, the softer side of the matchup on paper, which is exactly why the Phillies are laying money at home. ESPN has Philadelphia as a solid favorite, and ESPN's matchup predictor still only gives them 56 percent, which tells you how little separates these two right now. If the Phillies lose this one, the division is close to done.
Vegas line: Phillies -163, Braves +135. Run line PHI -1.5. Total 8.5 (over -101, under -119). Odds via DraftKings, listed on ESPN.
Also tonight
- Yankees at Padres (7:15 p.m. ET). San Diego won Friday on a Luis Campusano two-run homer in the 10th. Carlos Rodon goes for New York against Robbie Ray. Both clubs are in the playoff picture and both are short-handed, with Trent Grisham leaving Friday's game with a hamstring issue.
- Rays at Rangers (7:05 p.m. ET). Tampa Bay is 84-57 and gets Jacob deGrom in Arlington. Drew Rasmussen answers. Texas is 70-72 and mostly playing spoiler now, but deGrom against the best record in the league is worth the price of admission.
- Brewers at Reds (6:40 p.m. ET). Milwaukee is 88-54, the best record in baseball. Dustin May starts against Andrew Abbott. Cincinnati is 67-74 and out of it, so this is about whether the Brewers keep the top seed.
- Blue Jays at Royals (7:10 p.m. ET). Max Scherzer against Seth Lugo. Toronto is 71-71 and needs a run to matter in October. Kansas City is 63-79 and done.
- Red Sox at Orioles (7:05 p.m. ET). Sonny Gray faces Chris Bassitt at Camden Yards. Boston is 77-65 and holding a wild card spot, so these are the games that decide whether they play in October.
- Cubs at Marlins (4:10 p.m. ET). The early window. Chicago is 80-62 and Javier Assad starts against Ryan Gusto in Miami.
The thread today is separation. Milwaukee, Atlanta, and Tampa Bay are all trying to lock in seeding, and Philadelphia and Boston are trying to stay alive in races that are about to close. Full slate and live tiles at watch.uristocrat.com.
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