LAS VEGAS - In the suburbs just west of Sin City, the Rochester Red Wings, the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, and the Oklahoma City Comets, the top affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, will square off tonight at Las Vegas Ballpark.

Nine innings for the Triple-A National Championship, which given that Triple-A is the holding pen for almost-ready-for-prime-time players, you'd think they'd play a series rather than a single game. But as anyone who has worked in minor league sports will tell you, the object is to win games and not lose piles of money. Playoff games seldom draw what regular season games with family-friendly promotions will, and travel isn't cheap.

Here are five things to know about tonight's game at Las Vegas Ballpark.

Where to Watch - The game will start at 10:05 EDT and will be televised on MLB Network, with Tyler Maun on play-by-play, Jim Callis on color, and Sande Charles as the field-level reporter. You can also stream the game on the MiLB and MLB Pipeline homepages, MLB.TV, MLB+ and the MLB App.

The Starting Pitchers - You've gotta like the Oklahoma City Comets' chances, given that they're putting Emmet Sheehan on the mound. The 26-year-old out of Fordham Prep and Boston College has made 23 Major League appearances this year for the Dodgers, 22 of them starts, with a 4.57 ERA in 112 1/3 innings. In four starts with Oklahoma City, he's thrown 18 innings with a 1.50 ERA.

MLB.com's Kelsie Heneghan reported that Jack Cebert is expected to be called up from Double-A Harrisburg to start for Rochester. A draft pick of the New York Yankees out of Texas Tech, Cebert came to the Washington Nationals organization on Aug. 3 in the trade that sent infielder Luis García Jr. to the Yankees for pitchers Ben Grable, Yovanny Cruz, Jake Bird, and Cebert. He made three starts for Rochester after the trade, throwing 16 2/3 innings with a 4.86 ERA, 13 strikeouts, and 11 walks.

Red Wings Are The IL's Best, Comets Streaking Through Second Half - With a 90-58 record, the Rochester Red Wings were the best team over the entirety of the 150-game season. The beat the IL's first-half champion, the Memphis RedBirds, two games to one in the IL championship series at AutoZone Park in Memphis.

The Comets, meanwhile, won the second-half title in the Pacific Coast League, and beat the first-half winner, the Las Vegas Aviators, two games to one to advance to the Triple-A Championship Game.

Players To Watch - Not only will the Comets have Emmet Sheehan, a bona fide MLB pitcher, starting the game, they also have a number of top prospects in the lineup. MLB Pipeline's No. 6 overall prospect Josue De Paula came down during the PCL championship series after playing 11 games with Los Angeles and immediately contributed, getting on base four times in the last two games and chipping in a double and an RBI.

Keep an eye on No. 14 prospect Mike Sirota, and expect James Tibbs III and Zach Ehrhard to be a big part of the Comets' offense.

For Rochester, MLB Pipeline's No. 68 overall prospect, Seaver King, batted .303/.382/.898 with 24 homers and 74 RBIs during the season and went 4-for-12 with three runs scored, a solo homer, and an RBI in the IL championship series. Trey Lipscomb has swung a hot bat all year in Rochester, and is in the top five in Triple-A in homers (32), RBIs (94), slugging (.536), hits (149), extra-base hits (64) and total bases, where his 278 are tied for the Triple-A lead with Oklahoma City's James Tibbs III.

A Long Run Off the Strip - This year marks the 20th Triple-A National Championship Game and the fifth held at Las Vegas Ballpark. Only Oklahoma City's Bricktown Ballpark, which hosted the first five Triple-A National Championship games, has hosted the event more often, though the 2020 game, which was planned for Las Vegas Ballpark, was cancelled due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.