Saturday's two-game slate arrives with the playoff field officially locked: Minnesota and Golden State clinched long ago, and every team below the line — Portland included — has now run out of runway, leaving pure seeding stakes with four or five games left per team. Las Vegas sits 1.5 back of Golden State for the No. 2 seed, half a game separates Indiana and Atlanta in the middle, and Dallas and New York are deadlocked at 23-16 at the bottom of the bracket. Sky at Liberty tips at 1:00, followed by Tempo at Mercury at 10:00.

Chicago Sky @ New York Liberty | 1:00 PM ET | CBS

The Liberty need this one to feel normal again. Thursday's 79-60 home loss to Golden State was a season low in scoring and completed a 3-0 season sweep by the Valkyries, with Jonquel Jones — 18 points, seven rebounds, three blocks and four threes in the loss — the one part of the offense still running. Satou Sabally remains out, and New York is tied with Dallas at 23-16 in the fight for seeding.

Chicago is 15-24 and eliminated, playing without Skylar Diggins (knee) and Rickea Jackson (torn ACL, out for the season), but nobody has played New York tougher: the Sky won the most recent meeting 93-86 in Chicago on August 18, the night Jones briefly went down with an ankle injury. Saturday closes the season series.

The line sits at New York -8.5, with the total at 179.5. That's a big number for a team that just scored 60, against an opponent that has never trailed this series by more than a possession at the buzzer. Lean Chicago +8.5, and lean the under.

Chicago wins if Sydney Taylor and the guards keep a fourth straight meeting inside single digits, and New York's shooting slump follows the team into a quick-turnaround matinee.

New York wins if Jones and Breanna Stewart restore order inside early, and the offense that hung 95+ on Chicago twice this season shows back up at Barclays.

Toronto Tempo @ Phoenix Mercury | 10:00 PM ET | WNBA League Pass

The Mercury dropped both ends of their home set with Washington this week, falling 80-73 on Thursday to slide to 13-26 with a 2-8 mark in their last 10. Phoenix has been sitting bodies down the stretch — Kelsey Plum, Shay Ciezki, Kara Dunn, Marta Suarez and Jovana Nogic have all missed recent games — as the franchise's attention drifts toward the 2027 draft.

Toronto's situation is bleaker: this is the fourth stop of a western trip and the second night of a back-to-back after Friday's loss in Las Vegas, and the injury list now includes Marina Mabrey (adductor, weeks away), Brittney Sykes (out for the season), Aaliyah Morrow (out for the season) and Julie Allemand. The Isabelle Harrison–Temi Fagbenle frontcourt is what's left of a team that, in healthier days, won the first meeting in Phoenix 98-90.

The line sits at Phoenix -8.5, with the total at 177.5. Laying 8.5 with a 2-8 team that keeps resting starters is a lot to ask, even against a roster this thin. Lean Toronto +8.5, and lean the under.

Toronto wins if Harrison and Fagbenle control the paint the way Washington's bigs just did, and the short-handed rotation hits enough from deep to steal a low-scoring game.

Phoenix wins if the home team's remaining talent edge wears down a road-weary Tempo across four quarters, and the Mercury defend well enough that tired legs decide it.

The CBS matinee carries the real stakes: New York is tied with Dallas at 23-16, so every result shapes the 7-8 line and a likely first-round date with Minnesota or Golden State. The nightcap is one for the sickos — two shorthanded teams at 10 PM ET on League Pass — but it's the last look at both before Sunday's four-game slate closes out the schedule ahead of the FIBA break.