(Photo Credit: Matt Slocum/Associated Press)

Getting ready for a weekend of action-packed sports

We jump right into an active sports weekend with the American League Championship Series on Friday night.

Get home from work, kick off those shoes and plant your heiner in the recliner. It’s Game 5 for the Houston Astros and New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series. Friday night, 7:08 p.m. ET, FS1. Justin Verlander will be on the mound for the Astros, and he is always worth watching.

The series was backed up a day by Wednesday’s postponement of Game 4 to Thursday due to rainy conditions in the Bronx. The Astros, with an 8-3 victory, lead the series 3-1. If there is a Game 6, it will be Saturday at 8:08 p.m. on FS1. The Washington Nationals have already won the National League pennant.

Our never-ending quest to hook you up with matchups of Top 25 teams in college football leads us to Saturday’s meeting of No. 18 Arizona State (4-1) and No. 15 Utah (4-1). The Pac-12 Network (not available in as many places as we’d like) will show this at 6 p.m. ET. Network TV comes to the rescue at 7:30 p.m. when ABC delivers No. 16 Michigan (4-1) at No. 10 Penn State in Big Ten play.

Here’s a couple from the NFL of interest: The Oakland Raiders (3-2) at Green Bay Packers (5-1) at 1 p.m. Sunday on CBS and the Baltimore Ravens (4-2) at Seattle Seahawks (5-1) on Fox at 4:25 p.m. Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson has been the NFL’s MVP through the first half of the season.

NASCAR’s playoff elimination race at Kansas Speedway is Sunday at 2:30 p.m. on NBC. The field chasing the Monster Energy Cup will be reduced from 12 to eight.

There’s the map. Feel follow to it.

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman