The Las Vegas Raiders and the Detroit Lions are getting set to face off on Monday Night Football to conclude Week 8 NFL action.
However, they are not the only noteworthy sports event taking place on October 30th, 2023. This is a special date because it is a rare time that the Sports Equinox is occurring.
What Is the Sports Equinox?
The Sports Equinox is a rare day that all four major professional sports in the United States have games taking place on the same day. The sports leagues included in this are the MLB, NHL, NBA, and of course, the NFL.
It is only the 30th time that a Sports Equinox has ever occurred. This is also the only day on the 2023 calendar that it can take place.
So, what should we be expecting tonight? Let’s take a look.
World Series
The headliner of this Sports Equinox is arguably the MLB World Series. Game 3 between the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks is set to take place at 8:03 p.m. EST tonight. The series is currently tied 1-1.
This year’s World Series schedule is arguably the main reason why the Sports Equinox can only happen once in 2023. The MLB elected not to have Game 1 until this past Friday.
As a result, the two scheduled off days were scheduled for Sunday and Thursday. These would have been the only other days of the week where a Sports Equinox would have been possible due to the set NFL schedule.
So far, the Texas Rangers took Game 1 on a walk-off home run in extra innings by Adolis Garcia, and the Arizona Diamondbacks responded by dominating in Game 2 with a 9-1 final score.
NHL
The NHL has nine games taking place during this year’s Sports Equinox. We are nearly three weeks into the 2023-24 NHL season.
Tonight’s main game to watch is taking place between the Florida Panthers and Boston Bruins. The reason is the recent history behind this matchup.
In last year’s first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the eighth-seeded Panthers upset the top-seeded Bruins. Florida went on to make it to the Stanley Cup Final, where they fell to the eventual champion Las Vegas Golden Knights.
Right now, the Bruins are off to one of the best starts in the NHL with a 7-0-1 record. Tonight’s game could be a good revenge spot for them.
NBA
The NBA season is a bit fresher with tip-off just taking place last week. There are 11 games to watch from this sport tonight.
The headliner has to be the Miami Heat facing the Milwaukee Bucks. There is a similar story as above with the eighth-seeded Miami Heat upsetting the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in last year’s playoffs. The Heat also went on to lose in the NBA Finals to the Denver Nuggets.
One key difference is that the Bucks were more aggressive in the off-season. They acquired star point guard Damian Lillard. Now, they hope that acquisition means that they can return to the glory they had in 2021 when they were NBA champions.
Las Vegas Raiders Vs. Detroit Lions
Last but not least, we have the Las Vegas Raiders taking on the Detroit Lions. It is the only game that the NFL has to offer for this year’s Sports Equinox.
However, it should be an interesting one. The Lions are coming off of an embarrassing loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
As for the Raiders, they got upset last week by the Chicago Bears.
An important note is that they did not have QB Jimmy Garoppolo last week due to a back injury. Tonight, it appears that they will get him back.
At the time of writing, the Lions are 7.5-point favorites.
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