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The Tampa Bay Rays open the 2026 season on Thursday afternoon at Busch Stadium, where they take on the St. Louis Cardinals in a matchup that feels tighter than the early moneyline suggests. First pitch is set for 4:15 p.m. ET, with Drew Rasmussen starting for Tampa Bay and Matthew Liberatore going for St. Louis. The market has mostly held the Rays as a modest road favorite in the -124 to -126 range, with the total sitting at 7.5. That is a pretty clear signal this game is being priced as a controlled scoring environment rather than a wild opener. There is some real intrigue here. Rasmussen is coming off a 2025 season in which he posted a 2.76 ERA

The 2026 regular season opens Thursday night at Dodger Stadium, where the Arizona Diamondbacks visit the Los Angeles Dodgers for an NL West matchup that already carries a real betting feel. First pitch is set for 8:30 p.m. ET, with Zac Gallen listed for Arizona and Yoshinobu Yamamoto getting the ball for Los Angeles. The early market has the Dodgers priced as a sizeable home favorite, while the total has been sitting around 9, which tells you books are respecting the Dodgers’ lineup but still giving Arizona enough offensive credit to keep this from opening in the 7.5 or 8 range. This is also banner-night energy in Los Angeles, which matters at least a little. The Dodgers open at home

The Pittsburgh Penguins visit the Ottawa Senators on Thursday, March 26 at Canadian Tire Centre, with puck drop set for 7:00 p.m. ET. Ottawa comes in at 38-24-9 and is holding the second wild-card spot in the East, while Pittsburgh is 35-20-16 and sitting in a playoff position of its own. This is a meaningful game on both sides of the bubble, and it has started to feel a little bigger than a normal late-March regular-season matchup. Coverage is listed for ESPN+, with regional coverage on RDS2, TSN5, and SN-PIT. Ottawa is the hotter team right now. The Senators have won four straight, six of seven, and are 15-3-2 since January 25, even while dealing with major injuries on the

The Seattle Kraken head to Benchmark International Arena on Thursday night for a 7 p.m. ET start against the Tampa Bay Lightning, and it feels like a pressure spot for both sides, just in very different ways. Seattle enters at 31-29-10 and has dropped four straight, including Tuesday’s 5-4 shootout loss in Florida after digging out of a three-goal hole late. Tampa Bay is 44-21-5, second in the Atlantic, and rolling again after a 6-3 win over Minnesota pushed the Lightning to 4-0-1 in their last five. Regional coverage is listed on The Spot in Tampa Bay and KONG/Prime Video in Seattle markets. For Seattle, this is about staying alive in the Western Conference race while trying to stop a