Playoff energy
College football gets one of those regular-season games that already feels like Bowl Season, with No. 2 Georgia visiting No. 6 Alabama in a matchup that will surely reshape the SEC race — and the playoff picture along with it. We’ll look at where it ranks among this season’s biggest games below. Plus, the White Sox (with their weirdo pitching strategy) and Guardians have one last winner-take-all game coming Saturday, the WNBA semifinals resume tonight with Atlanta and Golden State both sitting one win from the Finals, and the NFL rolls into Week 5 after Dallas laid an egg at home on TNF vs. rookie QB Jalon Daniels. Here’s what we’re watching this weekend:
The Main Events
All listed times are Eastern. 🚨= Elimination game
Friday (10/9)
⚾ MLB Playoffs: No games. (Off-day prior to League Championship Series)
⚾🏆 World Series title check-in: Dodgers 43% to win*
🏀 WNBA Playoffs: No. 4 Dream (42%) at No. 8 Liberty (58%), Semifinals Game 3 - 7:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
🏀 WNBA Playoffs: No. 2 Valkyries (37%) at No. 3 Aces (63%), Semifinals Game 3 - 9:30 p.m. (Peacock)
🏀🏆 WNBA title check-in: Dream 43% to win
🏀 NBA: Preseason action. (Regular season starts 10/20)
🏀🏆 NBA title check-in: Thunder/Spurs 23% to win
🏈 CFB: Florida State (38%) at Louisville (62%) - 7 p.m. (ESPN)
🏈 CFB: No. 20 Iowa (42%) at Washington (58%) - 9 p.m. (FOX)
🏈🏆 College Football Playoff check-in: Ohio State 18% to win national title🏒 NHL: Rangers (44%) at Capitals (56%) - 7 p.m. (NHLN)
🏒 NHL: Kraken (43%) at Red Wings (57%) - 7 p.m. (ESPN+)
🏒🏆 Stanley Cup check-in: Avalanche 14% to win⚽ UEFA Women's WC Qualifiers: Italy (93%) vs. Belarus (3%) - 2:45 p.m. (FS2 / ViX)
⚽🏆 Champions League title check-in: FC Barcelona 25% to win
⚽🏆 MLS title check-in: Vancouver Whitecaps FC 20% to win MLS Cup
⚽🏆 NWSL title check-in: Gotham FC 27% to win⛳ Golf: Baycurrent Classic (Yokohama, Japan) - Round 2 - 11 p.m. (Golf Channel) - Jacob Bridgeman 27% to win
Saturday (10/10)
⚾ MLB Playoffs: White Sox (44%) at Guardians (56%), ALDS Game 5 - 8 p.m. (TBS / HBO Max) 🚨
🏀 WNBA Playoffs: No games. (Off-day)
🏈 CFB: #7 Indiana (74%) at Nebraska (26%) - 12 p.m. (FOX)
🏈 CFB: #1 Texas (74%) vs. Oklahoma (26%) - 3:30 p.m. (ABC)
🏈 CFB: #21 UCLA (21%) at #13 Oregon (79%) - 3:30 p.m. (CBS)
🏈 CFB: #2 Georgia (46%) at #6 Alabama (54%) - 7:30 p.m. (ABC)
🏒 NHL: Flyers (43%) at Bruins (57%) - 1 p.m. (NHLN)
🏒 NHL: Maple Leafs (34%) at Avalanche (66%) - 7 p.m. (NHLN)
⚽ Premier League: Leeds United (11%) at Arsenal FC (71%) - 7:30 a.m. (USA Network)
⚽ Premier League: Tottenham Hotspur (22%) at Manchester United (58%) - 12:30 p.m. (NBC / Peacock)
⚽🏆 Premier League title check-in: Arsenal FC 62% to win
⛳ Golf: Baycurrent Classic (Yokohama, Japan) - Round 3 - 11 p.m. (Golf Channel)
🥊 UFC Fight Night: Brendan Allen (53%) vs. Christian Leroy Duncan (47%) - 8 p.m. (Paramount+)
Sunday (10/11)
🏈 NFL: Eagles (23%) at Jaguars (77%) - 9:30 a.m. (NFL Network) - London game; bad Eagles vibes
🏈 NFL: Bears (53%) at Packers (47%) - 1 p.m. (FOX)
🏈 NFL: 49ers (38%) at Seahawks (62%) - 4:25 p.m. (FOX) - Game of the Year candidate
🏈 NFL: Ravens (38%) at Falcons (62%) - 8:20 p.m. (NBC / Peacock)
🏈🏆 Super Bowl check-in: Rams 12% to win NFL title⚾ MLB Playoffs: Dodgers at Brewers, NLCS Game 1 - 8 p.m. (FOX / FS1)
🏀 WNBA Playoffs: No. 4 Dream at No. 8 Liberty, Semifinals Game 4 - TBD (ABC) 🚨 (if necessary)
🏀 WNBA Playoffs: No. 2 Valkyries at No. 3 Aces, Semifinals Game 4 - TBD (NBC) 🚨 (if necessary)
🏒 NHL: Canucks at Rangers - 6 p.m. (ESPN+) - 1994 Stanley Cup Final rematch
🏒 NHL: Hurricanes at Flyers - 7 p.m. (NHLN)
⚽ Premier League: Nottingham Forest (37%) at Crystal Palace (36%) - 9:00 a.m. (USA Network / Universo)
⚽ Premier League: Everton (47%) at Hull City (26%) - 9:00 a.m. (Peacock)
⚽ Premier League: Manchester City (41%) at Liverpool (35%) - 11:30 a.m. (NBC / Telemundo)
⛳ Golf: Baycurrent Classic (Yokohama, Japan) - Final Round - 11 p.m. (Golf Channel)
🏁 NASCAR Cup Series: Bank of America 400 at Charlotte - 3 p.m. (USA Network) - Christopher Bell/Kyle Larson 17% to win
🏁🏆 NASCAR Cup title check-in: Kyle Larson 41% to win
🏁 F1: Singapore Grand Prix - 8 a.m. (Apple TV) - Max Verstappen 29% to win
🏁🏆 F1 title check-in: Kimi Antonelli 95% to win (Driver’s) / Mercedes 97% to win (Constructor’s)
Playoffs before the Playoff
One of the cool things about college football is that, despite the existence of an ever-expanding playoff (now up to 12 teams), there are also in-season “playoff-type” games — scheduled contests between highly ranked squads that serve as potential filters for the playoff selection process itself. And one of those is coming up Saturday night, when No. 6 Alabama hosts No. 2 Georgia. (Bama, at home, is favored 54-46 by the market.)
While it’s not the highest-rated ranked matchup of the season thus far, it’s close. We can create a simple scoring system for this, assigning each ranked team points based on their ranking at the time of the game — 25 points for No. 1, 24 for No. 2 and so forth, down to 1 point for the No. 25 team in the AP poll. Then we can combine the ranking-points in each game on the 2026 schedule to get a list of the top contests of the year. And if we do that, Bama-versus-UGA comes in third-best in the season, trailing only Week 3’s epic Texas-Ohio State Arch Manning comeback game and Week 11’s Catholics-versus-Convicts rivalry installment between Miami and Notre Dame:
Georgia vs. Alabama has its own long, heated history with many twists and turns — it’s probably the SEC’s defining rivalry of the past 10-15 years — and this is one of 9 times in history that the two programs have met while both were ranked among the Top 6 nationally:
And then, there’s the fact that both teams are trying to climb back to the top of the CFB heap after a few years of early (by their standards) College Football Playoff exits. Kirby Smart and Georgia are trying to rediscover the form that won two consecutive national titles in 2021-22 under QB Gunner Stockton this season, while Bama coach Kalen DeBoer remains in the long shadow of Nick Saban — with the program not having won a title since 2020, nor come especially close since Saban retired. But the Tide have an outstanding QB of their own (maybe the nation’s best?) in Keelon Russell this year, which has excitement running high in Tuscaloosa — even if Russell is running behind Ohio State’s phenomenal WR Jeremiah Smith in the Heisman Trophy odds.
So there are clearly huge stakes in this weekend’s battle. It may be possible for both Bama and UGA to make the Playoff with a loss — the Dawgs are at 88% and Crimson Tide at 74% in the playoff-qualification odds, though those two figures are obviously NOT independent of each other. But Saturday’s game will probably have huge bearing on who wins the SEC (or even plays in the conference title game), which has more downstream effects this year because the CFP has automatic conference-champion qualifiers in 2026. Any way you slice it, this is October football with December and January implications.
White Sox weirdness
As mentioned above, the Guardians won Game 4 of the ALDS in Chicago last night to force a deciding winner-take-all matchup on Saturday night. As part of that, the White Sox tried one too many times to get away with their bizarro “who needs starters anyway?” pitching tactic, with “bulk guy” Erick Fedde (who came in after opener Hagen Smith) giving up a few runs — as did the short-relief options who followed. And then Grant Taylor — hero of Games 1-2 with a pair of saves lasting longer than an inning each — melting down to help Cleveland put the game out of reach. With all of this playing out, Chicago has had one of the weirdest pitching mixes of any playoff team in memory; many more of their innings (49%) have been covered by 2+ inning relief appearances than either short relievers (28%) or especially starters (23%!) in the postseason.
What else we’re reading
Smart, short reads we liked while building today’s odds.
🏈 “Brock Purdy Is the ABBA of Quarterbacks” by Michael Weinreb
⚾ “How Are These Pitches Even Possible?” by ritmica
🏀 “14 unlikely-but-plausible predictions for the 2026-27 NBA season” by Mike Shearer
🏁 “NASCAR’s most successful tale of tough love” by Nate Ryan
🏀 “Better Know a Conference 2026: Big East” by Eamonn Brennan
👟 “How To Fix Nike” by Joon Lee
Next on deck…
Monday (10/12)
🏈 Monday Night Football: Bills at Rams
⚾ MLB Playoffs: Dodgers at Brewers, NLCS Game 2
⚾ MLB Playoffs: ALDS Winner (Guardians/White Sox) at Rays, ALCS Game 1
🏀 WNBA Playoffs: No games. (Off-day)
🏒 NHL: Golden Knights at Wild
⚽ Premier League: Coventry City at Newcastle United
Tuesday (10/13)
🏈 CFB: FIU at Jacksonville State
⚾ MLB Playoffs: ALDS Winner (Guardians/White Sox) at Rays, ALCS Game 2
🏀 WNBA Playoffs: No games. (Off-day)
🏒 NHL: Oilers at Kings
⚽ UEFA Champions League: Atlético Madrid vs. Manchester United
Wednesday (10/14)
🏈 CFB: Western Kentucky at Sam Houston
⚾ MLB Playoffs: Brewers at Dodgers, NLCS Game 3
🏀 WNBA Playoffs: No. 8 Liberty at No. 4 Dream, Semifinals Game 5 🚨 (if necessary)
🏀 WNBA Playoffs: No. 3 Aces at No. 2 Valkyries, Semifinals Game 5 🚨 (if necessary)
🏒 NHL: Stars at Avalanche
⚽ UEFA Champions League: Manchester City vs. Paris Saint-Germain
