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Greetings on this Thursday in sports, as our liminal sports week inches closer to its destination. In the NBA Play-In last night, we saw the Sixers secure their place in the main playoffs with a decisive win over the Magic, and the Warriors stunned the Clippers with some vintage Steph Curry magic. We’ll show you just how wildly the odds swung in the latter contest in a bit, along with a dive into the NHL postseason odds — the regular season finally wraps up there tonight as well. As we wait for the various playoffs to begin, here’s what’s happening on the schedule today:
🗓️ TONIGHT’S DANCE
The Main Events
All listed times are Eastern.
MLB:
⚾ Angels (29%) at Yankees (71%) - 1:35 p.m. (MLB.tv)
⚾ Orioles (46%) at Guardians (54%) - 6:10 p.m. (MLB.tv)
⚾ Mariners (52%) at Padres (48%) - 8:40 p.m. (MLB Network)
NBA:
🏀 No games (Play-In concludes Friday)
NHL:
🏒 Blues (49%) at Mammoth (51%) - 7:30 p.m. (ESPN)
🏒 Canucks (25%) at Oilers (75%) - 9 p.m. (ESPN+)
🏒 Kraken (37%) at Avalanche (63%) - 10 p.m. (ESPN)
Soccer:
⚽ Europa League: Nottingham Forest (41%) vs. Porto (31%) - 3 p.m. (Paramount+)
⚽ Europa League: Real Betis (53%) vs. Braga (22%) - 3 p.m. (Paramount+)
⚽ Europa League: Aston Villa (63%) vs. Bologna (16%) - 3 p.m. (Paramount+)
Golf:
⛳ RBC Heritage, Harbour Town Golf Links (Scottie Scheffler 20% to win)
🔍 FIND THE EDGE
Drop the puck
At last, the NHL’s regular season comes to a close tonight with a six-game slate to finalize the seedings and the playoff bracket. All of the playoff teams are already locked in, and in the Eastern Conference, all of the first-round matchups are known already. But the West still has a few outstanding items to decide — including who will face the intimidating No. 1 seeded Colorado Avalanche in Round 1 — on the season’s final day.
Once that’s settled, though, we can finally move forward with what should be a truly fascinating (and potentially league-altering) postseason. Going into the 2025-26 season, the question was whether the NHL would remain in a relative period of stasis — after all, we’d just seen the same finals matchup (Florida vs. Edmonton) in back-to-back years, with Florida also representing the East three straight times — or if a changing of the guard was due. And in large measure, we already have our answer: Florida missed the playoffs, undone by injuries and inconsistent goaltending.
Now it’s a matter of who will pick up the torch as the next champion. The sizable favorite in that regard is Colorado, which had the league’s best record (which, granted, may be a bad thing) and dominant stats during the regular season. The Avs led the league in goals scored and fewest goals allowed, which is a rare combo — it’s only been done twice since 1978 — and one that usually leads to playoff success: 11 of the last 16 teams to do it won the Stanley Cup.
But the Avs are not without flaws, including a puzzlingly mediocre (27th-best) power play percentage. If they fall short, the West is filled with viable alternative candidates — including the Oilers (going for a third straight spot in the finals), Stars (trying to break through to the finals after losing three straight conference finals), Golden Knights (which literally just fired their coach), Wild (which haven’t escaped Round 1 in 11 years), and Mammoth (a recently rebranded young team that nobody wants to play).
And that’s just half of the bracket. The East is even more wide-open, with the Lightning (a former dynasty reborn) and Hurricanes (a perennial conference finals loser like Dallas) leading the odds over the Sabres (which just snapped an NHL-record 14-year playoff drought), the ancient Penguins, and a couple of Canadian teams — the Canadiens and Senators — hopeful to do what Edmonton hasn’t recently, which is to end the nation’s own 33-year Cup drought.
Add it up, and this is a postseason overflowing with narratives — and uncertainty over which will prove to be the story of the season. Here, we’ll leave you with the prediction market odds to make and win the Stanley Cup when it’s all said and done a few months from now:
📊 CHART OF THE DAY
The Warriors live!
Faced with a win-or-go-home Play-In game against the LA Clippers on Wednesday night, the Golden State Warriors looked like they were headed for an early summer vacation. They trailed by 13 points on the road with under 10 minutes to play, and Los Angeles’ odds of winning were as high as 92%, according to the prediction markets. But then a vintage 27-point second-half explosion from Steph Curry and four clutch 3-pointers from Al Horford powered a decisive 16-6 closing run to secure the 126-121 comeback victory, setting up another must-win for the Warriors versus the Suns on Friday. Here’s a minute-by-minute look at how the market odds swung during the game:
❄️ STAY FROSTY
What else we’re reading
Smart, short reads we liked while building today’s odds.
🏀 “2026 Recruitment Rankings: The top 75 men’s basketball prospects in the Class of 2026” by Max Rosenberg
🏈 “Quarterback Drafts Are in Their ‘Feast or Famine’ Era” by me
🏈 “Movin’ to Guard: 2026 NFL Draft Offensive Linemen” by Mike Tanier
🏈 “Final Thoughts on the 2026 College Football Transfer Portal” by Ray Carpenter
🏒 “Catching pucks used to hurt and sometimes it still does” by Sean Shapiro
👀 EYES UP
Next on deck…
Friday (4/17)
⚾ MLB: Braves at Phillies
🏀 NBA: Play-In Tournament - East, No. 8 Seed Game (Hornets vs. TBD)
🏀 NBA: Play-In Tournament - West, No. 8 Seed Game (Suns vs. TBD)
🏒 NHL: No games 🙁 (Pre-playoff hiatus)
⚽ Serie A: Inter vs. Cagliari
⛳ Golf: RBC Heritage
🥊 Boxing: Alycia Baumgardner vs. Bo Mi Re Shin (IBF/WBO/WBA women’s junior lightweight titles)
Saturday (4/18)
⚾ MLB: Braves at Phillies
🏀 NBA: Playoffs, Round 1 begins!
🏀 NBA: Raptors at Cavs, Game 1 (Series tied 0-0)
🏀 NBA: T-Wolves at Nuggets, Game 1 (Series tied 0-0)
🏀 NBA: Hawks at Knicks, Game 1 (Series tied 0-0)
🏀 NBA: Rockets at Lakers, Game 1 (Series tied 0-0)
🏒 NHL: Playoffs, Round 1 begins! (Games TBD)
⚽ Premier League: Chelsea at Manchester United
⛳ Golf: RBC Heritage
🥊 UFC Fight Night: Burns vs. Malott
Sunday (4/19)
⚾ MLB: Royals at Yankees
🏀 NBA: Sixers at Celtics, Game 1 (Series tied 0-0)
🏀 NBA: Blazers at Spurs, Game 1 (Series tied 0-0)
🏀 NBA: Suns/Warriors winner at Thunder, Game 1 (Series tied 0-0)
🏀 NBA: Magic/Hornets winner at Pistons, Game 1 (Series tied 0-0)
🏒 NHL: Playoffs, Round 1 (Games TBD)
⚽ Premier League: Arsenal at Manchester City
⛳ Golf: RBC Heritage
🏁 NASCAR: AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway
🏁 IndyCar: Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, Streets of Long Beach
🧠 Looking ahead
Stay tuned for more updates and in-depth analysis of these events and more as they unfold. We’ll be bringing you all the scores, highlights, and expert commentary.
Got a favorite team or sport you want us to cover more? Let us know!
All data current as of time of send.
— by Neil Paine
*Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.