The morning line

MLB The marquee game right now is the Milwaukee Brewers at the San Diego Padres, knotted at two heading into the top of the ninth, with the Brewers' bullpen trying to hold serve and protect their spot atop the standings at 74-46. Keep an eye on tonight's Field of Dreams matchup too, as the Philadelphia Phillies visit the Minnesota Twins in Iowa, a fun made-for-TV setting even with both clubs stuck around .500. Elsewhere it is mostly a getaway-day slate of series openers, with the Yankees favored at home over the Mariners and the Braves heavily favored over the Mets as the heart of Atlanta's order looks to keep pace in a tight NL race.

NFL The marquee slate is preseason football, but the closest thing to a real litmus test is Detroit Lions at Cincinnati Bengals, with the Bengals favored by six and a half and the total sitting at thirty eight and a half, so watch the first units early before it turns into garbage-time stats. Green Bay Packers at Pittsburgh Steelers is the other one worth flipping to, with the Packers as road favorites, which is a little unusual for August and worth mentioning if the spread comes up. Everything else on the board, like Arizona Cardinals at Las Vegas Raiders and Tennessee Titans at San Francisco 49ers, is mostly about who can move the ball with backups on the field, so don't read too much into who covers.

WNBA Marquee game tonight is the Las Vegas Aces hosting the Washington Mystics on Prime Video, a legit playoff-seeding clash between two teams that can flat-out score buckets. But don't sleep on the New York Liberty putting the Los Angeles Sparks on upset watch at Barclays, and Minnesota's league-best Lynx rolling into Portland looking to keep ice in their veins on the road. Vegas is favored, but if Washington gets hot from deep this one could end in a dagger.