The final day of the MLB regular season will “have a postseason feel” as the Red Sox and Rays battle for the AL Wild Card and the Braves and Cardinals duke it out for the NL Wild Card. ESPN and ESPN2 are “prepared to cover all the compelling action.” Most of the country will have Red Sox-Orioles at 7:00pm ET on ESPN and Phillies-Braves on ESPN2. Due to MLB’s blackout rules, ESPN will air Rays-Yankees in the Boston and Baltimore markets, while ESPN2 will air Cardinals-Astros in the Atlanta and Philadelphia markets. Both the nets, however, will “provide frequent updates from the other meaningful games being played” throughout the night (FRONTROW.ESPN.com, 9/28). MLB Network will provide live look-ins, updates and highlights on its "MLB Tonight Live" program (THE DAILY).

The New Yorker's Ben Greenman wrote on his Twitter feed, "Dear MLB, don't add another wild-card team. See how exciting this is? How would it work? Wild cards would play each other in 1st round?" USA Today's Bob Nightengale: "Today is Game 162. No playoff pairing has been decided, while 8 of 15 games will impact races. Bud Selig has got to be smiling." The Houston Chronicle's Richard Justice tweeted, "This could be one of the greatest days in baseball history."

NBPA Exec Dir Billy Hunter has reportedly called the union's Exec Committee members "as well as some of the league's superstars" such as Lakers G Kobe Bryant, Heat F LeBron James, Thunder F Kevin Durant and Knicks F Carmelo Anthony, to meet Friday in N.Y. It is not "immediately known which players have yet agreed to attend the meeting." NBA Commissioner David Stern is "summoning some of the league's owners together for a meeting amongst themselves." Stern and Hunter will "share with their constituencies where negotiations stand at this point," and then the two sides "might come together" for another round of talks (ESPN.com, 9/28).

NASCAR today unveiled the '12 Sprint Cup Series schedule. Significant changes include Talladega Superspeedway's Chase event moving up two weeks to Oct. 7, becoming the fourth race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Talladega swaps its date with Kansas Speedway to accommodate the latter's repaving after its spring event, which has also moved to be the eighth race of the season on April 22. As previously announced, the season-opening Speedweeks at Daytona Int'l Speedway will start one week later with the Feb. 18 Shootout ahead of the Feb. 26 Daytona 500.

NASCAR Senior VP/Racing Operations Steve O’Donnell crashed his Twitter account while interacting with and responding to fans around the release of the schedule. He exceeded the 150-tweet-per-hour limit in the hour he was chatting with fans. There were more than 1,000 tweets total on the subject, reaching nearly 16 million Twitter users. O'Donnell at one point tweeted, "Thank you fans, it was an awesome experience. Sorry I'm in timeout!" (THE DAILY).

MLB today announced that it will open its season in Tokyo, Japan, for the fourth time in '12 when the A's play the Mariners in the Japan Opening Series 2012, a slate of two games that will take place March 28 and 29. The series will be dedicated to assisting in rebuilding efforts in Japan following the earthquake in March. This will mark the first MLB season opener in Japan since the Red Sox and A's played at the Tokyo Dome in '08. Since '99, 10 MLB clubs have participated in openers outside North America (MLB).

The Red Wings and Chrysler Group today announced that they have extended their sponsorship agreement for the '11-12 season. As part of the new agreement, Chrysler's presence at Joe Louis Arena will be significantly enhanced. The deal makes the Dodge Ram the official truck of the team. Also, Chrysler will present intermission promotions and other activities designed to engage fans on gameday. Metro Detroit Ram dealers will sponsor the Three Stars of the Game ceremony at the arena and will present randomly selected fans with autographed sticks (Red Wings).

The White Sox have agreed to a four-year contract extension with TV broadcaster Ken Harrelson, who will remain in the booth through the '15 season (White Sox).

Equifax today announced a multiyear deal to sponsor the Falcons as the team's credit and identity information partner. This marks Equifax' first NFL team sponsorship in the credit agency's 112-year history (Equifax).

E & J Brandy today announced that it has renewed its deal to sponsor the Packers (E & J Brandy).

ESPN's Jenn Brown has signed on as an endorser of GNC (GNC Holdings).

Heat F Chris Bosh has agreed to endorse titanium necklace maker Phiten (Phiten).

SI this week features late Pro Football HOFer Walter Payton on the national cover with the copy, "Walter Payton ... The Hero No One Knew." Phillies Ps Cliff Lee and Ryan Madsen appear on a regional cover available in the Philadelphia market and Bills CB Drayton Florence is available in the N.Y. and New England region (THE DAILY).

Sports Illustrated	Sports Illustrated	Sports Illustrated

"We will do everything we can to keep the Big 12 together" – Oklahoma State booster T. Boone Pickens, who feels the Big 12 conference would be in trouble if the Univ. of Missouri followed Texas A&M to the SEC (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 9/28).

“The irony is not lost on me” – Marlins LF Logan Morrison, on the team hiring Ozzie Guillen, who has been known to criticize his team and players via Twitter, to replace the 80-year-old Jack McKeon as manager (PALM BEACH POST, 9/28).

"I’ll say this, that's the first time I ever saw an old lady in a wheelchair shooting me the bird with both fingers. That’s crazy right there" – Patriots G Brian Waters, on the weirdest thing he has seen while playing the Raiders at O.co Coliseum (ESPN.com, 9/28).

“I’m very excited about the ballclub. I’m very excited about the new park. It’s pretty nice. Wow! It’s pretty awesome. I hope the fans are pretty excited about the new era for the Marlins” – New Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen, during his introductory press conference today (MLB Network, 9/28).

WMG Chair & CEO Casey Wasserman: "Great meeting with @BlakeMycoskie...building an amazing company and doing incredible things in the world..."

Octagon First Call Managing Dir David Schwab: "Only one NBC show made the top 20 in ratings last week. NFL: Steelers vs. Colts Sunday night game."

USA Today’s J. Michael Falgoust: "Deputy commish Adam Silver: It would be hard to characterize us as having made progress today. #nbalockout"

T'Wolves G Jonny Flynn: "FIFA 12 just picked it up, how yall like it?"

If you see a tweet we will not want to miss, send it to us at editorial@sportsbusinessdaily.com. 

GMR Marketing Account Exec Ward Gibson posts a picture of a Univ. of Maryland football coach’s playcall sign that includes the Lowe’s logo and wonders if this is the next big thing in sports business:

Twins announcer John Gordon will call his last game before retiring after his 25th season with the team. Gordon will be honored before the game with a video tribute and speeches from former players Bert Blyleven, Dan Gladden and Dick Bremer, as well as current Royals announcer Ryan Lefebvre. 

Bulls G Derrick Rose stars in a new digital ad from adidas around the release of his latest adiZero signature shoe. The spot ties in to a Facebook campaign in which fans can unlock the full 60-second version.

Watch The Clip

CBS Sports will premiere "1st & Goal in the Bronx: Grambling vs. Morgan State, 1968," a documentary that chronicles the first time two historically black colleges played a football game in N.Y. amid the troubled times associated with the civil rights struggle, at 7:00pm ET.

Heat G Dwyane Wade will appear on NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" at 12:35am ET.

44.8% – Percentage of DVR penetration among TV viewers in the U.S., up from 40.5% in the year-ago period and 21.7% in Sept. '07 (THE DAILY).