MLB Wild Card Playoff Series; College Football: What's On This Weekend in TV Sports (October 8-9)

Tyler Glasnow of the Tampa Bay Rays (Image credit: ESPN)

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. ■  

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.