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New York gets the rubber match at Yankee Stadium on Thursday afternoon, with first pitch set for 1:35 p.m. ET on MLB.TV. The Yankees enter at 8-3 and sitting atop the AL East, while the Athletics are 4-7 and fourth in the AL West. It is still early, obviously, but this spot matters a bit more for Oakland after stealing Wednesday’s 3-2 win and giving itself a chance at a statement road series victory. The bigger betting story is the matchup itself. Jeffrey Springs has looked sharp through two starts for the A’s, and Ryan Weathers is still trying to settle in for New York. Add in the cold Bronx weather, a total sitting in the 8 to 8.5 range

Cincinnati closes its four-game set in Miami on Thursday afternoon with Rhett Lowder on the mound, and that is a pretty good place to start if you are looking for a betting angle. First pitch is set for 12:10 p.m. ET at loanDepot park, with the Reds at 8-4 and the Marlins at 7-5 entering the finale. Cincinnati had its five-game winning streak snapped in Wednesday’s 7-4 loss, while Miami finally got back in the win column after dropping the first two games of the series. TV coverage is listed on Marlins.TV and Reds.TV. Lowder has been one of the early-season stories in the National League. He is 1-0 with a 1.64 ERA through two starts this season, and he

Arizona and New York close this three-game set Thursday night at Citi Field, with first pitch set for 7:10 p.m. ET. The Diamondbacks come in at 6-6 and sit second in the NL West, while the Mets are 7-5 and third in the NL East after Arizona snapped New York’s four-game winning streak with a 7-2 win on Wednesday. This is the kind of early-season rubber match bettors usually care about because both teams are still trying to define what they really are offensively. The pitching matchup is Eduardo Rodriguez for Arizona against Nolan McLean for New York. Rodriguez has looked sharp through 12 innings with a 0.00 ERA, while McLean has opened his season with a 2.61 ERA and

The Miami Heat head back to Scotiabank Arena on Thursday night for the second half of this mini-series, and the urgency is not exactly equal. Toronto is 44-35 and still fighting to lock down a clean playoff spot in the East, while Miami sits at 41-38 and is already stuck in the play-in. That changes the feel of the game a bit. The Raptors just handled the Heat 121-95 on Tuesday, and now they get another home spot at 7:00 PM with a chance to complete the season sweep. Toronto has beaten Miami three times already, and the matchup has not been especially close when the Raptors control the paint and the glass. That happened again two nights ago. The