09.17.18: Five things you should plan for the week ahead based on unscientific evidence of guaranteed importance

Someday soon, we don’t know when, we’re going to get to that place where we’re told the Rams and Chargers will walk into a fabulous Inglewood multi-purpose facility, across the street from the once-called Fabulous Forum, on the site of one of the more fabulous race tracks that Southern California ever had. It’s 2020? Sure… But til then, we’ll trample out to the Coliseum for Week 3 of the NFL season – Sunday, 1:05 p.m., Channel 2 — for a meet-and-greet. They still could be destined to win the NFC West and AFC West, respectfully, and until then, they respectfully must play their best at this moment in time and rile up the Los Angeles NFL marketplace.
Other games worth watching this week:
Monday: Seattle at Chicago, 5:15 p.m., ESPN
Thursday: N.Y. Jets at Cleveland, 5:20 p.m., NFL Network
Sunday: San Francisco at Kansas City, 10 a.m., Channel 11; Dallas at Seattle, 1:25 p.m., Channel 11; New England at Detroit, 5:20 p.m., Channel 4

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The Dodgers’ three game series at home against Colorado has several layers of importance with two weeks left in the season and the Dodgers starting their final homestand. Before you get to amped up after that weekend in St. Louis, maybe the team finally realized: They lead the league in runs and ERA, and no team that has been first in run differential and missed the playoffs in 28 years. The rest depends on how they score with runners in scoring position and with two out – they’re among the worst in that department in the last 45 years according to research by Jared Diamond at the Wall Street Journal.
How the pitching matchups work:
Monday at 7 p.m.: Hyun-Jin Ryu vs. Jon Gray, SportsNet LA
Tuesday at 7 p.m.: Clayton Kershaw vs. Kyle Freeland, SportsNet LA
Wednesday at 7 p.m.: Walker Buehler vs. Tyler Anderson, ESPN and SportsNet LA
Also this week for the Dodgers (all on SNLA)
At Dodger Stadium vs. San Diego:
Friday at 7:10 p.m., (Digital Bobblehead Night) The homestand will be highlighted by Jaime Jarrín Night on Friday, Sept. 21, where the Hall of Fame broadcaster will become just the 12^th Dodger to be inducted into the team’s Ring of Hono
Saturday at 6:10 p.m. (Manny Machado real bobblehead night)
Sunday at 1:10 p.m. (final home regular-season game, fan appreciation day, Orel Hershiser real bobblehead day).
Also this week for the Angels:
At Oakland: Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:05 p.m., Thursday at 12:35 p.m., FSW
At Houston: Friday at 5:10 p.m., Saturday at 4:10 p.m., Sunday at 11:10 a.m., FSW

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Before the Rams-Chargers have their Coliseum summit, USC will try to see how many fans it can pretend to can fit into the place on a Friday night at 7:30 p.m. just so ESPN has some programing of a Pac-12 Conference game. The opponent: Washington State. The underlying cause: Get to 1-1 in the conference standings.
UCLA, by the way, is off this week to figure out a way to make 0-3 look cool to future recruits.
The best of the rest in Week 4:
Friday: Florida Atlantic at Central Florida, 4 p.m., ESPN; Penn State at Illinois, 6 p.m., FS1
Saturday: Notre Dame at Wake Forest, 9 a.m., Channel 7; Nebraska at Michigan, 9 a.m., FS1; Louisville at Virginia, 9:30 a.m., ACC Network; Texas A&M at Alabama, 12:30 p.m., Channel 2;  Clemson at Georgia Tech, 12:30 p.m., Channel 7; Texas Christian at Texas, 1:30 p.m., Channel 11; Stanford at Oregon, 5 p.m., Channel 7; Arizona State at Washington, 7:30 p.m., ESPN

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Who isn’t ready for some NHL exhibition matchups? The Kings set the blades in motion with a couple of split-squad contests at Staples Center against Arizona (Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.) and at Las Vegas (Thursday, 7:30 p.m.). The Ducks are also in play, including a televised game at home against San Jose (Thursday, 7 p.m. Prime Ticket) to go with games at San Jose (Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.) and at Arizona (Saturday, 6 p.m.)

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Only the top 30 money winners make the field for The PGA Tour Championship  at the East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Thursday-Sunday, to finally close the season and determine this FedEx Cup thing. Bryson DeChambeau goes in with the most advantageous path to win in his first Tour Championship appearance. Dustin Johnson is in the No. 4 spot in a field that includes — against all odds — Tiger Woods, who missed the cut at Riviera back last February but still rallied to have a very respectable season. Also here: Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka, Bubba Watson, Patrick Cantlay and Rickie Fowler. Not here: Jordan  Spieth — he finished 31st and did not play in the required 25 events this season. He still made $3 million this season. Jeez. Golf Channel has the first two rounds starting at 10 a.m. Thursday and Friday. Channel 4 has the third round Saturday at 11:30 a.m. and the final round Sunday at 10:30 a.m.