MLB and NFL Highlight Weekly Betting

The Atlanta Braves will try to cut into the Washington Nationals' division lead early this week, while the National Football League hits Week 3 of its preseason schedule, and the PGA Tour stages the first event of its FedExCup playoff schedule. As well, the Sprint Cup Series drivers will hit the track on Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The Nationals will get a chance to put some more breathing room between themselves and the Braves in the NL East standings when those clubs begin a three-game series in Washington on Monday night. Those teams have already met a dozen times so far in 2012, with the Nationals managing to pull out the victory in eight of those 12 contests.

Elsewhere on the diamond early this week NL West rivals will collide when the Dodgers play host to the Giants, while the Angels will be looking for a series win in Boston, the Rangers will be at home to take on the Orioles, and the Yankees will battle the ChiSox.

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Later in the week the Reds will play host to the Cardinals in an NL Central clash, while the Braves are in San Francisco to meet to the Giants, the Tigers host the Angels, and the Rays get a visit from the A's. Tampa Bay is 3-3 against Oakland so far this season.

The NFL's preseason schedule for Week 3 gets underway on Thursday night and carries on through Sunday – when it's San Francisco at Denver and Carolina at the Jets. The Broncos are 1-1 so far in exhibition action after losing 30-10 at home to Seattle over the weekend. Peyton Manning went 16 of 23 for 177 yards passing for the Broncos in that defeat, with no touchdown strikes and two interceptions on the night.

The Jets are 0-2 so far in the preseason and lost 26-3 to the Giants over the weekend; they've managed to score just nine points over two exhibition contests. Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow combined for just 128 passing yards and an interception last time out.

On the links this week the PGA Tour's FedExCup playoffs get underway at The Barclays at Bethpage, which runs from Thursday to Sunday. The top 125 golfers in the tour's points race qualify for this tournament, with the field reduced to 100 players for next week's Deutsche Bank Championship. Dustin Johnson is the defending tournament winner at The Barclays, while Tiger Woods is the sportsbooks' favorite.

And for auto racing fans, the IndyCar Series offers up the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma on Sunday while NASCAR has the Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday. Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch have combined to win six of the last seven Sprint Cup Series races at Bristol; Keselowski is the defending race champion.