Back in action
Happy Thursday! After nearly 3 weeks on break for the Women’s World Cup, the WNBA finally gets back to its business tonight — and with only a few games left per team, but a logjam in the seeding picture, they’re basically returning from vacation straight into the most important part of the season. So we’ll reset the W’s playoff and title picture below. Plus, Week 2 of the NFL opens with a potential Super Bowl preview between Detroit and Buffalo — breaking in the Bills’ brand-new stadium — while Cleveland has finally chased down Chicago atop the AL Central, and Lionel Messi just scored his 100th goal for Inter Miami. (Time truly does fly.) Here’s what else we’re watching today:
The Main Events
All listed times are Eastern.
Football:
🏈 NFL: Lions (32%) at Bills (68%) - 8:15 p.m. (Prime Video)
🏈 CFB: Syracuse (21%) at Pittsburgh (79%) - 7:30 p.m. (ESPN)
🏈🏆 Super Bowl check-in: Rams 13% to win NFL title
🏈🏆 College Football Playoff check-in: Notre Dame 16% to win national title
MLB:
⚾ Dodgers (61%) at Reds (39%) - 12:40 p.m. (MLB.tv)
⚾ Phillies (45%) at Mets (55%) - 7:15 p.m. (FOX) - Nolan McLean starting for NYM
⚾ Tigers (48%) at White Sox (52%) - 7:40 p.m. (MLB.tv)
⚾ Red Sox (55%) at Rangers (45%) - 8:05 p.m. (MLB.tv)
⚾🏆 World Series title check-in: Dodgers 29% to win
WNBA:
🏀 Sun (8%) at Dream (92%) - 7:30 p.m. (WNBA League Pass) - Return from FIBA break
🏀 Sparks (24%) at Wings (76%) - 8 p.m. (USA Network)
🏀 Aces (82%) at Storm (18%) - 10 p.m. (USA Network)
🏀🏆 WNBA title check-in: Lynx 47% to win
Soccer:
⚽ Europa League: Real Sociedad (32%) vs. AFC Bournemouth (44%) - 3 p.m. (Paramount+)
⚽ Europa League: Beşiktaş (56%) vs. Marseille (24%) - 3 p.m. (Paramount+)
⚽🏆 Champions League title check-in: FC Barcelona 24% to win
⚽🏆 Premier League title check-in: Arsenal FC 59% to win
⚽🏆 MLS title check-in: Vancouver Whitecaps FC 20% to win MLS Cup
⚽🏆 NWSL title check-in: Kansas City Current 29% to win
Golf:
⛳ PGA Tour: Biltmore Championship Asheville (Round 1) - 8 a.m. (Golf Channel) - Jackson Koivun 8% to win
Break time’s over
The WNBA’s schedule is often at the mercy of forces beyond its control. The league’s draft is awkwardly squeezed just a week after the end of the NCAA tournament — no, this wasn’t a product of the league’s offseason labor strife, either; it was the same in 2025 — and just three weeks before the start of the regular season. Its postseason overlaps entirely with the NFL season’s early phase and the MLB playoffs. And in a year like this, the W had to also press pause for nearly three weeks in the middle of its season to accommodate the FIBA Women's World Cup, which wrapped with the US winning gold in Berlin on Sunday.
But now, the players are all back from overseas and the season is ready to resume tonight with a full slate of games. With just a week left in the regular season as well — each team has only four games left — and the postseason field (if not the seeding) locked in, it’s time to look ahead to the rest of the slate and reset the big picture of the season overall.
The big unresolved items of the next week will be playoff seeding. While the Lynx and Valkyries are very likely to go 1-2 in the final standings, and the defending champ Aces have a good shot at the No. 3 seed, the rest of the picture is extremely unclear — and that will matter a lot of the playoff bracket overall, in terms of the paths each team must take through the postseason.
Games to watch in that regard include the Liberty versus the Lynx and the Dream (twice), and the Fever versus the Mystics and the Lynx (twice), which will have implications at both the bottom of the seeding — where, in addition to Washington, NY is lurking as a dangerous team despite a merely OK record, and could be seeded anywhere from 4th to 8th — and the middle tier, with the Fever and Dream jockeying for that all-important No. 4 seed and home-court advantage in Round 1.
The most likely playoff matchups as of now, at least according to Elo?
1. Minnesota vs. 8. New York (tough draw for Lynx!)
2. Golden State vs. 7. Washington
3. Las Vegas vs. 6. Dallas
4. Indiana vs. 5. Atlanta
But again, a lot of that can and will move around over the next week. And all of it is building to this snapshot of the title odds, according to the prediction markets:
In other words, after a 3-week breather, the WNBA is sprinting straight into October, and it should be a chaotic race to the finish.
An early-season TNF classic?
Thursday Night Football, which the NFL introduced as your latest primetime football-watching staple in 2006, was not always known for its quality content. During the early-to-mid 2010s, the games often devolved into snoozefests and frequently became a dumping ground for terrible AFC South matchups with even worse jersey combinations. But that trend started to change once TNF began being simulcast on major networks in the late 2010s, and especially recently in its current partnership with Amazon Prime Video. Now we arrive with tonight’s Bills-Lions battle at Buffalo’s new Highmark Stadium, which could be a Super Bowl preview — Buffalo is the AFC’s most likely champ and Detroit ranks 5th in the NFC. Looking at the average Elo ratings of the teams, this is the 31st-best Thursday game on paper since 2006 (excluding Thanksgiving), and the 12th-best to happen this early in a season (Week 2 or earlier):
What else we’re reading
Smart, short reads we liked while building today’s odds.
🏈 “It’s Been One Week and Your NFL Team is Doomed” by Ray Carpenter
⛳ “Does Hitting Fairways Actually Matter?” by Tour Swings Tommy
🏈▶️ “Did Philip Rivers forget he had legs?” by Secret Base
⚾ “Hideo Nomo’s No-No Was the Toughest Ever” by me
🏒 “Previewing every NHL team with 1 chart: Dallas Stars” by Brendan Farrell
⚾ “Baseball Has a New Hosiery Hero” by Paul Lukas
Next on deck…
Friday (9/18)
🏈 CFB: #22 Houston at #13 Texas Tech
⚾ MLB: Red Sox at Rays
🏀 WNBA: Liberty at Lynx
⚽ MLS: NYCFC vs. Red Bulls
⛳ Golf: Biltmore Championship Asheville
Saturday (9/19)
🏈 CFB: #7 LSU at #8 Ole Miss
🏈 CFB: #10 Florida State at #1 Alabama
🏈 CFB: #16 SMU at #23 Louisville
⚾ MLB: Yankees at D-Backs - 2001 World Series rematch!
🏀 WNBA: Storm at Valkyries
⚽ Premier League: Brighton vs. Arsenal
🏁 NASCAR: Bass Pro Shops Night Race (Bristol Motor Speedway)
🥊 UFC 331: Van vs. Pantoja 2
⛳ Golf: Biltmore Championship Asheville
Sunday (9/20)
🏈 NFL: Colts at Chiefs
🏈 NFL: Dolphins at 49ers
🏈 NFL: Bengals at Texans
⚾ MLB: Phillies at Mets
🏀 WNBA: Mystics at Fever
⚽ Premier League: Bournemouth vs. Liverpool
🏁 F1: No race.
⛳ Golf: Biltmore Championship Asheville
