Editor's note: only the marquee game carries a line today. We publish Vegas numbers, not gut picks, and the rest of the slate stays line-free until our picks model ships. Full slate and start times live at watch.uristocrat.com.
Baseball has the night to itself. Fifteen games, no football, no basketball, and the September standings are doing the work. Milwaukee is 89-56 and running away with the NL Central. Chicago is 81-64 and playing for a wild card. They meet in Milwaukee with the Brewers' best arm on the mound.
Marquee: Cubs at Brewers, NL Central with a wild-card chase attached (7:40 p.m. ET, Marquee Sports Network / Brewers.TV)
Jacob Misiorowski takes the ball for Milwaukee at 14-5 with a 1.97 ERA, and the Cubs have already seen him this month. On September 2 they got to him for five runs in four innings and still lost 9-5, which tells you most of what you need to know about this matchup. The Brewers hit enough to cover a bad night from their ace. Chicago counters with David Peterson, 7-8 with a 5.39 ERA, which is why the number is as wide as it is for a division game in September. The Cubs are not chasing Milwaukee anymore. They are protecting a wild-card spot, and games like this one are how that lead gets thin.
Vegas line (via ESPN): Brewers -223, Cubs +181. Run line Brewers -1.5 (+100). Total 7.5, under -119.
Also tonight
- Rays at Braves (7:15 p.m. ET). Tampa Bay is 85-58, Atlanta is 85-59. This is the best pair of records on the board and nobody is talking about it. Freddy Peralta starts for the Rays against AJ Smith-Shawver.
- Astros at Phillies (6:40 p.m. ET). Philadelphia is 81-63 and hosting a Houston team at 73-71 that needs the series. It's on TBS, so it's the national look before the Milwaukee game starts.
- Rockies at Yankees (7:05 p.m. ET). New York is 81-62 and Colorado is 55-88. This one is about the Yankees keeping pace, not about the matchup.
- Angels at Red Sox (6:45 p.m. ET). Boston is 80-65 and firmly in the AL race. The Angels are 54-90 and playing out the string at Fenway.
- Nationals at Padres (9:40 p.m. ET). San Diego is 76-68 and can't afford a slip against a 67-79 Washington club. Late window on ESPN Unlimited.
- Reds at Dodgers (10:10 p.m. ET). Los Angeles is 87-57 and closes the night. Cincinnati at 69-75 is the last team on the West Coast still technically alive.
The thread tonight is the gap between the teams that already know where they're going and the teams still doing math. Milwaukee, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Tampa Bay are in. Chicago, San Diego and Houston are the ones who will remember these games in three weeks. Every start time and tile is on Uristocrat Watch.
Comments