This weekend’s lineup of live TV sports events begins on the baseball diamond as Major League Baseball’s first-ever Wild Card Series round concludes.

On Saturday, ESPN will televise the second game of the best-of-three game series featuring  the Seattle Mariners and the Toronto Blue Jays, after Seattle won the first game on Friday, as well as the second game of the San Diego Padres-New York Mets series.

Also Saturday, ESPN2 will air the second game of the Tampa Bay Rays-Cleveland Guardians series as the Rays look to even up the matchup, and the Philadelphia Phillies-St. Louis Cardinals series, in which the Phillies lead one game to none. 

On Sunday, ESPN, ABC and ESPN2 will combine to provide game three coverage from the four MLB Wild Card Series if necessary.    

On the racetrack, NBC on Saturday will air the NASCAR Xfinity Series Drive for the Cure 250 race, and on Sunday will televise the NASCAR Cup Roval 400 race. Also on Sunday ESPN2 will televise the Formula One Japanese Grand Prix race. 

College Football enters its sixth week of the regular season with top-ranked Alabama matching up against Texas A&M on CBS, second-ranked Georgia hosting Auburn on CBS, third-ranked Ohio State battling Big Ten rival Michigan State on ABC, fourth-ranked Michigan traveling to play Indiana on Fox and fifth-ranked Clemson facing  Boston College on ABC. Other games featuring top 10-ranked teams include No. 6 USC-Washington State (Fox), No.7 Oklahoma State-Texas Tech (FS1), No. 8 Tennessee-LSU (ESPN) and No. 9 Ole Miss-Vanderbilt (SEC Network).

In the boxing ring, Showtime will televise a super welterweight title fight between champion Sebastian Fundora and challenger Carlos Ocampo and a junior bantamweight championship bout between titleholder Fernando Martinez and Jerwin Ancajas.

USA, NBC, CNBC and Peacock will continue its weekend coverage of Premier League soccer matches with nine live game telecasts combined.

Sunday’s pro football coverage features a NFL Network Sunday morning telecast from London featuring the New York Giants and the Green Bay Packers, afternoon regional game coverage on Fox and CBS, and an NBC Sunday Night Football game telecast between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Baltimore Ravens. ■  

ESPN said it was shaking up its baseball announcing lineup and setting up an alternative game broadcast on ESPN2 featuring former highest-paid player Alex Rodriguez.

Former New York Mets, Kansas City Royals and New York Yankees pitcher David Cone will be joining ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball booth alongside play-by-play man Karl Ravech and analyst Eduardo Perez.

The changes come as ESPN begins a new rights deal with Major League Baseball.

Rodriguez will be joined by YES Network’s Michael Kay eight games this season for a special presentation dubbed Sunday Night Baseball with Kay-Rod.

The alternative broadcast is modeled on ESPN’s successful “ManningCast,” which successfully launched on ESPN2 this season, with former NFL quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning providing alternative commentary opposite Monday Night Football.

The Kay-Rod games will feature top matchups — Yankees-Red Sox — as well as fantasy baseball, predictive analysis and special guests, ESPN said. 

Also: ESPN To Close Out NFL Season with New Saturday Doubleheader

“As we begin our next chapter of baseball coverage, we aim to maximize the value of this new rights agreement by prioritizing innovation and compelling storytelling,” said Norby Williamson, ESPN executive VP and executive editor, production.

“We welcome David Cone to ESPN and believe he and Eduardo Perez will offer a master class in contemporary analysis, including Statcast-driven data and discussion,” Williamson said. ”Karl Ravech, who has been our ‘Mr. Baseball’ for three decades, will lead the booth with the command and credibility that he’s displayed throughout his career.

“I’m equally excited for the duo of Alex Rodriguez and Michael Kay to team up and offer fans a new, engaging experience,” he added. ”The innovative Sunday Night Baseball with Kay-Rod presentations will be informative and entertaining and play a crucial role in our overall Sunday Night Baseball content offerings. We’re grateful for the collaboration with the YES Network and look forward to starting the 2022 season.”

If the MLB Wild Card Series returns in 2022, the event will be fully exclusive to ESPN platforms and both new commentator teams will contribute to coverage. ■ 

Fox News was the most watched cable network for the Oct. 4 Vice Presidential Debate, although viewership was far lower than for last month's Presidential debate.

Fox News averaged 6.1 million total viewers to lead all cable networks providing live coverage of the Mike Pence-Tim Kaine debate, according to Nielsen. CNN was second with 4.1 million viewers and MSNBC was third with 3.1 million watchers.

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CNN topped all cable news nets in key demos including adults 25-54 (1.6 million viewers) and adults 18-34 (561,000 viewers), according to Nielsen.

Overall, 35.6 million viewers watched the debate across eight broadcast and cable channels, according to Nielsen. Those numbers fell well short of the 84 million viewers that tuned into the Sept. 26 Presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. 

Most Watched Shows On Cable For Oct. 4

Show                                                   Network                                 Total viewers

VP Debate                                          Fox News                                6.1 million

VP Debate Analysis                           Fox News                                5.2 million

MLB Wild Card (Balt/Tor)                   TBS                                         4.1 million

VP Debate                                          CNN                                        4.1 million

The Kelly File                                     Fox News                                3.2 million

VP Debate                                          MSNBC                                   3.1 million

The O’Reilly Factor                            Fox News                                3.0 million

Debate Night In America                   CNN                                        3.0 million

WWE SmackDown                           USA Network                           2.3 million

MSNBC Debate Analysis                  MSNBC                                   2.2 million

Source: Nielsen