Vol. IThe Bluffball AlmanacSAT, SEP 19, 2026✉ Write innew

Sportsinator

Daily sports news cheat sheets for people who want to talk sports

Back issues · July 2026 · 3 July

3rd july 2026

18 games played, by sport.

The morning line

MLB The big story right now is Wrigley Field, where the St. Louis Cardinals are absolutely torching the Chicago Cubs — St. Louis is up 17-1 in the bottom of the eighth, the kind of shellacking where you wonder if the Cubs manager went to the pen about four innings too early. Tonight's marquee game on the schedule is the San Diego Padres heading into Dodger Stadium, where the Los Angeles Dodgers are the heaviest favorites on the board at -259 and the best record in baseball at 57-31. Also worth watching: the Milwaukee Brewers, sitting at 53-32 and playing like the class of the National League, make the trip to Chase Field to face the Arizona Diamondbacks in a matchup where the heart of the Brewers' order has been putting balls in the seats all season.

WNBA The marquee matchup tonight is the Minnesota Lynx rolling into Barclays Center to face the New York Liberty — the Lynx are the hottest team in the league at 15-4 and come in as favorites, so watch if the Liberty can hang with them in the paint or if Minnesota just eats them up. Later on the Las Vegas Aces host the Chicago Sky, and with Vegas sitting at 14-5 and laying only 4.5, the Sky will need to find some buckets in a hurry or this one gets ugly fast. The Fourth of July slate also features the Golden State Valkyries and Atlanta Dream on CBS, a tight matchup between two evenly-matched squads where the over/under is low enough that every possession matters.

World Cup The marquee match is already underway at Hard Rock Stadium, where Argentina lead Cape Verde one-nil at the half — the defending champions have found the net once but will need a clean sheet in the second forty-five to keep the tournament talking about them. Later tonight, Colombia host Ghana at Arrowhead Stadium, a tie where the South Americans are heavy favorites but African sides have a way of making things uncomfortable in knockout football. The can't-miss matchup on the horizon is France against Paraguay in Philadelphia, where Les Bleus are expected to be dominant, though Paraguay will fancy their chances of nicking something if France switch off for even a moment in stoppage time.

Friday, 3rd Jul18games