• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, October 28, 2025

Tuesday prime time will feature an epic clash of major sports as Game 4 of the World Series on Fox goes head-to-head with NBC’s second Tuesday-night NBA doubleheader.

The competition between these live TV attractions is symbolic of the way major sports have become Priority No. 1 for the networks that air them.

In any other year previous to this one, there would have been little or no chance (probably the latter) that the World Series would bump up against any other national sports telecasts on a Tuesday night for the simple reason that there were no major sports on Tuesday nights.

But now, two NBA games will face off against Game 4 of a World Series that has been a straight-up thriller through the first two games, both played in Toronto, home of the American League champion Blue Jays. Game 3 was Monday night, after the TV Blog was written.

In Game 1 last Friday, the Jays broke open the game against the Dodgers with a jaw-dropping, nine-run sixth inning that included a grand slam by pinch hitter Addison Barger. It was the first time in the history of the World Series that a pinch hitter hit a grand slam. Final score: Toronto 11, L.A. 4.

But Game 2 on Saturday went completely the opposite way as Blue Jays fans watched their hometown team get mowed down by Dodgers pitching phenomenon Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 27.

He stayed on the mound for the entire game, pitched only 105 pitches, and retired the last 20 Blue Jays batters he faced. 

He gave up four hits and one run for a final score of L.A. 5, Toronto 1. For the record, the Dodgers had only six hits, but they used them to produce five runs.

The game was Yamamoto’s second consecutive complete game in the playoffs, a rarity achieved by just a handful of pitchers in the history of the game. 

Yamamoto and Dodgers teammate Shohei Ohtani, 31 -- a slugger and pitcher who some are calling the greatest player in baseball history -- have baseball fans wondering if we are now witnessing the arrival of a new generation of baseball superhumans.

The Series moved to Los Angeles Monday night for Game 3, the first of three games at Dodgers Stadium. Game 4 starts at 8 p.m. Eastern Tuesday on Fox. 

Another emerging phenomenon in sports is the NBA’s 7’4” Victor Wembanyama, 21 -- nicknamed “Wemby” -- star center for the San Antonio Spurs now starting his third season with mind-boggling stats through the season’s first three games: a total of 100 points, 40 rebounds and 18 blocked shots.

If NBC had a Spurs game on Tuesday night, Wemby would have been a big draw for its NBA doubleheader Tuesday night against the World Series. But alas, the NBC schedule was established before the season started.

NBC’s Tuesday doubleheader (also seen live on Peacock) will have the New York Knicks visiting the Milwaukee Bucks starting at 8 p.m. Eastern, followed by the L.A. Clippers at the Golden State Warriors, scheduled to start around 11 p.m. Eastern.

The strongest attraction here is the Knicks, who might draw a larger audience in New York than the World Series, since neither the Yankees or the Mets made it to the Series this year.