- Minnesota (33-11) is the No. 1 seed and opens the best-of-three first round at home against No. 8 New York on Sunday.
- Washington’s 101-93 win over Chicago, a franchise-record 28th, plus a 2-1 season series against Indiana, put the Mystics fifth and the Fever sixth.
- Atlanta’s 83-65 win over New York on Wednesday secured the No. 4 seed and pushed the Liberty down to No. 8, with Dallas at No. 7.
- Minnesota’s title price drifted to +100 from -120, and Las Vegas shortened to +500 from +650.
WASHINGTON – Thursday night’s results filled in the WNBA’s postseason bracket, and the last open seed came down to a tiebreaker. The Washington Mystics and Indiana Fever both finished 28-16, and Washington’s 2-1 edge in their season series makes the Mystics the fifth seed and the Fever the sixth.
The First-Round Matchups
The best-of-three round opens Sunday in a 1-1-1 format, with the higher seed hosting Games 1 and 3, per the league’s 2026 bracket. Top-seeded Minnesota (33-11) gets New York (26-18), the eighth seed. Golden State (32-12) sits second and gets seventh-seeded Dallas (27-17). Las Vegas (31-13) holds the third seed against sixth-seeded Indiana (28-16), and fourth-seeded Atlanta (30-14) meets Washington (28-16), the fifth seed.
Game 2s follow Tuesday and Wednesday, with a Game 3 possible Thursday or Friday if a series splits, as legal sports betting markets price every matchup.
Mystics Edge Fever For No. 5
Washington’s 101-93 result against Chicago on the final day was the franchise’s 28th win of the year, a record, and it left one seed still to be sorted. With both teams at 28-16, the league’s first tiebreaker is head-to-head record, and Washington had taken two of the three meetings with Indiana this season.
So Indiana slots in sixth and opens against Las Vegas rather than fourth-seeded Atlanta. Indiana’s own finale went badly the same night, an 86-66 loss at Minnesota.
Dream Clinch Four, Valkyries Rally For Two
Atlanta’s 83-65 win over New York on Wednesday secured the No. 4 seed for the Dream and pushed the Liberty down to No. 8. Dallas finished 27-17 by beating Seattle 103-91 later that night, which settled the Wings at No. 7.
The No. 2 seed came down to the finale, too. Golden State was down 69-57 to the Los Angeles Sparks with 4:42 left and outscored them 17-4 the rest of the way for a 76-75 win. Kaitlyn Chen had 18 points, 14 of them in the fourth quarter, and Gabby Williams put up eight in the last 90 seconds. Nneka Ogwumike played the last game of a 15-year career in the loss.
Title Board Shifts With The Field Set
| Team | Odds | Implies |
|---|---|---|
| Minnesota Lynx | +100 | 50.0% |
| Las Vegas Aces | +500 | 16.7% |
| Golden State Valkyries | +650 | 13.3% |
| Indiana Fever | +850 | 10.5% |
| Atlanta Dream | +900 | 10.0% |
| New York Liberty | +1200 | 7.7% |
| Washington Mystics | +5000 | 2.0% |
| Dallas Wings | +8000 | 1.2% |
A $100 bet at WNBA betting sites on Minnesota now wins $100, instead of the $83 it won at -120 before the finale – the same $100 stake pays more today than it did a few days ago, even with the top seed and home court through the first two rounds locked up. That drift follows a week in which the Lynx clinched the No. 1 seed despite a 19-point loss at Indiana.
Las Vegas moved the other way. The same $100 stake now wins $500 instead of $650, and the shorter price arrived with a first-round draw against Indiana, the shortest-priced team among the bottom four seeds, and a semifinal against the Golden State-Dallas winner if the Aces get there.
