Wits can close gap on top three

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While the top three teams in the Premiership title race will not be in action this weekend, it presents the fourth-placed Wits a chance to keep the pressure on the contenders.


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Johannesburg – While the top three teams in the Premiership title race will not be in action this weekend, it presents the fourth-placed Wits a chance to keep the pressure on the contenders.


The mid-table clash between Wits and the seventh-placed Polokwane City at Old Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday should provide ample insight as to how the two-and-a-half week break affected the teams. With a win, Wits could draw level on 43 points with Pirates in third place, but still behind on goal difference.


Mathematically, The Clever Boys still have a chance of winning the league. If they win their remaining matches, Wits can reach 61 points. One of those contests include welcoming Orlando Pirates to Bidvest Stadium, and a victory over the much-fancied Sea-Robbers could well determine which team finishes the season in third.


Realistically, Wits cannot entertain thoughts of winning the league as it would require an abysmal run of form from the table-topping Kaizer Chiefs and the second placed Mamelodi Sundowns.


For Roger de Sa’s Ajax Cape Town, a trip to Royal Bafokeng Stadium to take on Platiunum Stars could prove a difficult task on Saturday evening. Ajax were fifth on the table with 34 points, but trailed Wits by six points with just seven games remaining in the season.


Stars, meanwhile, were dangerously close to the relegation zone with 24 points from their 22 matches this season. The Rustenburg side were lying in 13th spot, just two points ahead of Free State Stars and Moroka Swallows. Stars famously finished second in the league in the 2012/2013 season under coach Cavin Johnson.


The mentor only just rejoined the side on Tuesday, after the club parted ways with Allan Freese. The return of Johnson could spark a change in fortune for the relegation-threatened outfit, but with little time to turn things around a positive result could prove tricky in his first fixture back in charge.


Johnson was not the only change in management for a Premiership club during the week, with both Moroka Swallows and Chippa United also making alterations to top management.


On Monday, news filtered in that Chippa United had suspended coach Ernst Middendorp pending an investigation, to leave the 12th-placed team on the Premiership log precariously poised with six games remaining in their season.


Mich D’Avray, Chippa’s technical director will take charge until the club finds a permanent replacement as coach.


Lastly, the Birds’ appointed Craig Rosslee at the helm, replacing Fani Madida who quit earlier in the season while Goodman Mazibuko took charge for one match in the interim.


In the early games on Saturday, AmaZulu host Free State Stars at Moses Mabhida Stadium and Maritzburg United welcome SuperSport United to Harry Gwala stadium.


On Sunday, Bloemfontein Celtic entertain University of Pretoria.


Fixtures


Saturday: AmaZulu v Free State Stars (Moses Mabhida Stadium), Maritzburg United v SuperSport United (Harry Gwala Stadium), Platinum Stars v Ajax Cape Town (Royal Bafokeng Stadium), Polokwane City v Bidvest Wits (Old Peter Mokaba Stadium).


Sunday fixture: Bloemfontein Celtic v University of Pretoria (Kaizer Sebothelo Stadium). – ANA






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Liverpool won’t sell Sterling

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Brendan Rodgers says Raheem Sterling is not for sale and will not be leaving Liverpool at the end of the season.


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London - England forward Raheem Sterling is not for sale and will not be leaving Liverpool at the end of the season despite media speculation over his future, manager Brendan Rodgers said.


“I'm quite relaxed about it. It's part of the modern game. He has got two and a half years left on his contract and is going nowhere this summer,” Rodgers told reporters ahead of Saturday's Premier League match with Arsenal.


Sterling, in a non-permissioned interview with the BBC, denied on Wednesday he was a “money-grabbing 20-year-old” but said he was in no rush to sign a new contract.


The forward has been offered an eye-watering 100,000 pounds ($148,300) a week to sign a fresh deal, according to media reports.


Rodgers, who has had to deal with rumours about Sterling for most of the season, said Liverpool did not need to let the player go.


“If the club isn't going to sell, it won't sell - it's as simple as that,” he added.


“For us it's about continuing the nurturing and developing of a young player who has made huge strides in the last couple of years and for me that is the only thing to concentrate on over the remaining games until the end of the season.”


Rodgers confirmed a point made by Sterling in the BBC interview that a new contract would not be discussed until the end of the season at the earliest.


The manager also said the reported interest shown in the player by Arsenal did not detract from Liverpool's aspirations.


“His ambition is to win trophies and be successful and that's perfectly aligned with what we are trying to do,” explained Rodgers.


“Arsenal are a fantastic football club but this is Liverpool, one of the great clubs of the footballing world and it is an honour for Raheem to be playing here in front of our great supporters.


“But he understands that. He has developments to make on and off the field and this is a great place for him to be.”


It will be interesting to see what kind of reception he gets from Liverpool and Arsenal fans on Saturday. – Reuters






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Morocco’s Afcon ban overturned

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Morocco can play in 2017 and 2019 African Nations Cup qualifying after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld “in large part” an appeal against Confederation of African Football (CAF) sanctions.


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Berne, Switzerland - Morocco can play in 2017 and 2019 African Nations Cup qualifying after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld “in large part” an appeal against Confederation of African Football (CAF) sanctions.


“The suspension ... of the next two editions of the African Nations Cup ... is annulled and the fine imposed to the Royal Federation of Moroccan Football is reduced to $50,000,” CAS said in a statement on Thursday.


CAF had barred Morocco from the 2015 edition, after the country refused to host the competition citing Ebola virus fears, and suspended them from the 2017 and 2019 editions while also imposing a fine of $1 million.


CAS has not ruled on CAF's claim for eight million euros ($9.1 million) in damages to itself and television and marketing partners for having to move this year's finals to Equatorial Guinea at late notice.


“The question related to the compensation of the possible damage caused by the Royal Moroccan Football Federation to the CAF may still be examined by another jurisdiction,” said the Swiss-based organisation based in Lausanne.


In January, CAF's executive committee found the federation financially liable for costs after Morocco had been officially stripped of hosting rights two months earlier.


Morocco appealed to CAS, sport's highest tribunal, and accused CAF of being against the development of the game in Africa by refusing them permission to participate in the 2017 and 2019 editions.


Thursday's announcement will be a blow to CAF president Issa Hayatou who took a hardline stance against the country's initial request to postpone this year's finals for several months because of the fight against Ebola in west Africa.


Last week Tunisia withdrew a CAS appeal against a similar sanction after CAF had threatened to ban the country from 2017 qualifying unless they apologised for accusing African football's governing body of bias.


As part of a compromise, Tunisia will be allowed to play in qualifying that starts in June.


Tunisia made the allegations after a controversial defeat to Equatorial Guinea in the Nations Cup quarter-finals in January.


The draw for 2017 qualifying will be made in Cairo next week. – Reuters






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News sport : NBA Playoff Picture Update: Rockets won't go away, Heat flirt with disaster

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DALLAS, TX - APRIL 02: James Harden #13 of the Houston Rockets reacts during play against the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center on April 2, 2015 in Dallas, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) With just about two weeks remaining until the NBA postseason, every night can impact the standings. NBA Playoff Picture keeps you up to date on all the most important news for all 16 berths and seeds.


Don't count out the Rockets: The Houston Rockets have plenty of reasons not to remain title contenders — Patrick Beverley is out for the year, Dwight Howard is quite clearly not in top shape after missing two months with knee issues, and there's only so much time in the season to figure out how to reshape the squad for a long playoff run. The Rockets might very well end up proving they don't have enough to stay among the elite, but they're certainly not going to go away without a fight. Down six to start the fourth quarter of Thursday night's contest at the Dallas Mavericks, Houston out-scored their hosts 31-18 in the final period en route to a 108-101 win. The Rockets are now in sole possession of the West's No. 2 seed at 52-24, a half-game better than the 51-24 Memphis Grizzlies.


Thursday's victory wasn't just impressive for coming against a playoff team, but for the way in which it occurred. The Rockets are now even more reliant on James Harden than usual, and they likely wouldn't have won Wednesday against the Sacramento Kings if not for his career-high 51 points. Thursday was a different story, with Harden scoring a team-high 24 points on 6-of-15 shooting and three teammates joining him with at least 14, including Trevor Ariza at 19 on 6-of-12 FG. It was a reminder that the Rockets' setup isn't that different than how it's been most of the season. If Howard can get contribute more in the next few weeks (he played only 18 minutes after sitting out the last two games), it's not crazy to think they can serve as the greatest challenge to the Golden State Warriors to represent the conference in the NBA Finals.


The Mavericks' loss does not do much to impact their seeding — they're still 3 1/2 games up on the Oklahoma City Thunder for the No. 7 seed and don't have a great chance of catching the San Antonio Spurs for sixth. Yet Thursday could be meaningful to their future if only for the health of Chandler Parsons, who left the game in the third quarter with knee pain and did not return. Parsons will be reevaluated Friday, and any stay on the shelf could be problematic.


Cold Cold Heat: LeBron James welcomed his old Miami Heat teammates to Cleveland for the second time and summarily pushed them out the door with a 114-88 thumping. The Cavaliers maintained their firm grip on the East's No. 2 seed, but the Heat have now fallen to 34-41 and find themselves in a virtual tie with the Boston Celtics for the final playoff spot in the East. Miami holds that tiebreaker due to a 3-1 advantage in their completed season series, but the Heat are courting disaster as a team that was constructed to avoid a crushing fall to mediocrity following the loss of LeBron last summer.


On the other hand, Thursday could have gone a lot worse for them, because Dwyane Wade left the game in the second quarter with a bruised knee and did not return. Wade said post-game that he does not consider the injury serious and will play again, but it's unclear if that means he will miss one or two games for sensible rest. Now locked in a tight race with four of seven games left to play against teams fighting for playoff berths or seeding, it's fair to say that the Heat need Wade to play as much as possible.


Unnecessary fun: The Warriors are apparently going to give fans their money's worth despite having clinched the West last Saturday. They beat the Phoenix Suns 107-106 at Oracle Arena in a game that featured three consecutive go-ahead baskets in the final 10 seconds, culminating in Harrison Barnes's awkward lay-in with 0.4 ticks on the clock. The 62-13 Warriors are now either one win or one Atlanta Hawks loss from clinching the best record in the NBA, which would give them homecourt advantage through the NBA Finals. Meanwhile, the Suns are still all but eliminated at 38-38, 4 1/2 games back of the Oklahoma City Thunder for the conference's final playoff spot.


Friday's Most Important Games


A busy 10-game slate involves plenty of matchups that will affect seeding, but these are the three biggest:


Bucks at Celtics, 7:30 p.m. ET: Miami is idle, so Boston can grab a half-game lead for the No. 8 spot with a win. Milwaukee is in good shape to finish with the No. 6 seed but can see their lead over the Nets fall to 1 1/2 games with a loss and a win for Brooklyn.


Raptors at Nets, 7:30 p.m. ET: Toronto is in a tie for third-place with the Chicago Bulls at 45-30, although they're likely to win any tiebreakers simply because they've already won the Atlantic Division and the Bulls are unlikely enough to play in the Midwest with the Cavs. This game ultimately matters more to the Nets, who have won five straight but are a mere half-game up on the Heat and Celtics for seventh.


Thunder at Grizzlies, 8:00 p.m. ET: The New Orleans have a promising matchup at the lottery-bound Sacramento Kings later in the night, so the Thunder need a win to avoid the potential of holding just a half-game lead for the No. 8 spot when they wake up on Saturday. Memphis will try to get back into that tie for second with the idle Rockets. These teams also have history, so it's likely that this could be the best-played and most competitive game of the night.


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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!







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News sport : Dwyane Wade makes early exit from Heat-Cavaliers after suffering left knee bruise

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Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade exited Thursday night's nationally televised game against former teammate LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers after suffering a bruised left knee in an awkward fall.


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The injury occurred at the 6:45 mark of the second quarter, with Cleveland holding a 49-31 advantage over the visiting Heat:



Wade took a pass from backcourt partner Goran Dragic and faced up at the right elbow against the defense of Cavaliers swingman Iman Shumpert. Wade angled to his right and began to back Shumpert down on the right block before taking a separation dribble, seemingly aiming to rise up for a fadeaway jumper along the baseline. But as he planted his right foot, he slipped, his left knee buckling as his right foot slid out from underneath him, leaving him slumped in a painful and uncomfortable position, looking almost like a runner attempting to stretch out his hamstring.


Wade instantly laid back on the hardwood in evident pain as Cavaliers big man Tristan Thompson stole the ball from him and started a fast break that ended with an unmarked Shumpert hitting an open 3-pointer. Play continued as Wade stayed down, rolling onto his stomach in the frontcourt; after Miami brought the ball back over the timeline, the Heat called a timeout to enable trainers to tend to Wade. He limped off the court to the Heat bench, then headed back to the locker room for additional attention.


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Wade spent the remainder of the quarter in the locker room, and when the Heat came back out from halftime, they were without their leading scorer:



The left knee's been a problem for Wade for years, stretching all the way to 2002, when Wade — a rising junior at Marquette — had the meniscus in that knee removed rather than repaired, a decision he'd later come to regret. He's had multiple subsequent surgeries on it over the years — one after the 2006-07 season to address so-called "jumper's knee" and an arthroscopic precedure following the 2011-12 campaign — and missed the final month and a half of the '07-'08 season to undergo OssoTron treatment on the knee. (Wade has also had right knee problems over the years, most notably bone bruises that led him to undergo platelet-rich plasma therapy during the 2012-13 season and get his knee drained before Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers.)


Dwayne Wade reacts after injuring his knee during the first half against the Cavaliers. (Jason Miller/Getty Images) After missing seven games in November with a strained left hamstring, two more in January with a strained right hamstring, and seven more after suffering a right hamstring pull that knocked him out of the All-Star Game, Wade's been huge for the Heat since the All-Star break. He'd played in 20 of Miami's 22 post-break games entering Thursday night, averaging 22.2 points, 4.4 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game, headlined by a brilliant stretch of 25-plus-point games that got the Heat back in the Eastern Conference playoff picture despite the absence of James and the loss of Chris Bosh.


Those familiar old problems began to rear their ugly head last week, though. Wade needed to have fluid drained from the troublesome left knee before a game against the Detroit Pistons (in which he'd go on to hang 40 on ol' buddy Stan Van Gundy). Two nights later, he looked two steps slow as he was being eaten alive by defensive marvel Kawhi Leonard, shooting just 6-for-20 from the field as the Heat got waxed by the San Antonio Spurs. And now, a slip, a stumble, a crumble, an early exit and another bruise.


Here's hoping the bruise isn't as serious as some of the ones that have troubled Wade in the past, and that a couple of days of ice, rest and treatment allow him to return to the floor in proper working order. Miami's about to embark on a road back-to-back against the Pistons and Pacers this weekend, a pair of games that the Heat sorely need to win to keep their hopes of scraping into the postseason alive; those opponents aren't exactly the Warriors and Hawks, but even so, the Heat would figure to have an awful tough time generating enough offense to win them with Wade either sidelined or significantly hampered.


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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!



Stay connected with Ball Don't Lie on Twitter @YahooBDL, "Like" BDL on Facebook and follow Dunks Don't Lie on Tumblr for year-round NBA talk, jokes and more.






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News sport : He's back! Josh Freeman, out of NFL in 2014, signed by Miami Dolphins

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Consider this for a moment: Josh Freeman is a mere six months older than Ryan Tannehill.


And yet Tannehill, the Miami Dolphins' starting quarterback, is considered an up-and-coming player, while Freeman — who signed Thursday as the team's No. 3 QB — was a player who already has missed his NFL starting window.


But at least the 6-6, 240-pound Freeman has a chance to play again, back in the NFL after remaining unsigned for all of the 2014 season.


The No. 17 overall pick in the 2009 draft started 59 of the first 66 NFL games for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that he was on their roster before being benched after only three games in 2013 by then head coach Greg Schiano before being released in early October that year.


After signing midseason in 2013 with the Minnesota Vikings, Freeman started one game against the New York Giants on Monday Night Football, bombed badly, suffered a concussion and never saw the field again. He was not re-signed that subsequent offseason after reports came out he was late to meetings and appeared disinterested.


The Giants signed him for six weeks in 2014, but Freeman was cut — in favor of Curtis Painter and Ryan Nassib. Freeman worked out this offseason for the New York Jets and Philadelphia Eagles before signing as the Dolphins' No. 3 behind Tannehill and Matt Moore.


Is Freeman's career salvageable? You'd have to think if he doesn't play well in the offseason, this could be his final chance in the NFL.


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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!






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News sport : Don't feel bad Jameis, the Buccaneers stalked Justin Blackmon before draft

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Quarterback coach George Whitfield's revelation to Yahoo Sports' Charles Robinson that a team had someone on a flight with presumptive No. 1 draft pick Jameis Winston, in order to spy on him, is a bit shocking.


But then again, all is fair as NFL teams prepare for the NFL draft.


How deep does it go? Beyond Whitfield's claim that a team had someone in the organization on Winston's flight (probably to the scouting combine) to check on his behavior, there's the story former Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Mark Dominik told ESPN Radio about receiver Justin Blackmon.


Blackmon was a big-time prospect, but also had some off-field red flags. So the Buccaneers had a scout sit at a popular bar on the Oklahoma State campus from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. for a week, according to Dominik, and see how many times Blackmon came in.


Really. This happened. Or at least the Buccaneers former GM says it did.



"We found out there was a bar called the Cricket Inn or the Cricket, which was a popular bar there in Oklahoma State," Dominik, now an ESPN analyst, said. "He [the scout] sat there for one week, went in at 3 o’clock every day and stayed until 11 o’clock at night. That was his job, and we checked how many times did Justin Blackmon come in? And he came in too many times and we took him off our board."



There have been stories like that going around forever. Wisconsin defensive tackle Wendell Bryant, the 12th pick of the 2002 NFL draft, told me that year that he knew bar owners in Madison had been asked by NFL teams leading up to the draft if he frequented their establishment. Deep investigations into draft prospects are not new. Background checks are done. Many teams, if not all of them, look through prospects' social media accounts for red flags. Players are interviewed at the combine and pre-draft visits, though teams are well aware that those players are coached up on what to say.


Consider former Miami Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland's response to what was a pretty deplorable tale, that he asked Dez Bryant before the draft if his mother was ever a prostitute. When Ireland apologized after it was revealed publicly what he asked Bryant, the first line of Ireland's public statement was: "My job is to find out as much information as possible about a player that I'm consider drafting." There was an apology after that, but think about it: Ireland's priority was to get across that first and foremost he was in charge of getting information on draft prospects. Sometimes, apparently, that takes some offensive methods.


Sometimes the NFL's desire for information leads to some seemingly crazy behavior, like spying on a player on a flight or going to a bar for a week straight to determine how much time a prospect spends there. Is it wrong? Maybe. Stalking a potential employee in bars and on flights doesn't seem like a common business practice. But also consider that Blackmon hasn't played in the NFL since four games in 2013, a result of suspensions from multiple failed drug tests. Perhaps the Jacksonville Jaguars, who took Blackmon with the fifth pick in 2012, would have avoided a big mistake if they had shadowed Blackmon at that bar in Stillwater.



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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdowncorner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!






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News sport : Happy Hour: Tires, TV ratings and Tony Stewart

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Throughout the week you can send us your best questions, jokes, rants and just plain miscellaneous thoughts to happyhourmailbag@yahoo.com or @NickBromberg. We'll post them here and have a good time.


We'll start the mailbag with some news that we didn't post earlier in the day. RCR is appealing the penalty given to it for tire manipulation at California. It's asked for a deferral of suspensions pending the appeal, but that would only matter if the appeal isn't heard next week. With the off-weekend, there's more time for NASCAR to hold the appeal for the team. While there's a chance it won't be held until after the Texas race, our guess is it happens sometime next week.


It's appropriate to start with our tire questions then, right?



This is the unavoidable question, isn't it? As we pointed out when the penalties were announced (75 points for Newman, a six-race suspension for three crew members including crew chief Luke Lambert), Newman had 10 top-10 finishes in the first 26 races of the season. In the Chase, he had six, including a run of five straight starting at Dover.


And the speed he showed at the end of the year has carried over to 2015 with four top-10 finishes in the first six races.


Given the information at hand, there's no way to say that RCR did manipulate the tires on the No. 31 last year. But there's also no way to completely prove that they didn't, barring an investigation of the tires that it used at Homestead. And that may not even be possible at this point.


If Drew's question is the unavoidable question, there are a host of others too. When did teams catch on? When did NASCAR hear enough to start investigating, subsequently leading to the "tire audits?" Given that NASCAR took tires before the race at Auto Club Speedway, it's reasonable to assume that this was not a one-race infraction. We just may never know for sure how long this went on.


-------


How does letting air out of the tires helps the handling of the car? - Mandy


We've gotten a lot of questions about this after writing what we did on Friday.


In very basic terms, hot air occupies more space than cold air does. Tires get hotter the longer they're on the car, which is why teams start tire runs with low air pressures in the tires. And tires with low air pressures have more grip.


By poking tiny holes into tires (small enough that the tire won't go flat), the air pressure that builds up over the course of a run slowly escapes. Tire pressure stays lower, grip stays better, and, theoretically, speed increases.


-------


Nick how many tires that get shredded after the race,victory burnout are involved, Harvick shedded tires, or does the heated rubber seal the holes? - Bruce


Yes, a driver shredding his back tires after a burnout isn't abnormal. It happens pretty regularly.


But if that was a defense to prevent inspection of manipulated tires, it's not a very broad one. To avoid your tires being checked, you'd have to win the race. If you finished second or lower, you're not going to have any excuses to burn down your tires.


Plus, you'd have to only be doing it on your final set of tires. Because nothing would stop any other set of tires from being taken and looked it. And you don't know if your final set of tires will be on the car for five laps, 10 laps or 50 laps.



Last year's Martinsville race had a 3.8 rating. This year's, on Fox Sports 1 instead of Fox, had a 2.5 rating. It was the lowest rating for a NASCAR race since 2002.


However, it's not much of a surprise. Ratings are widely expected to be considerably lower on FS1 and NBC Sports Network because they don't have the recognition or distribution as broadcast networks do.


But, and here's a key but, it was still the highest-rated non-NCAA Tournament sporting event of the weekend. That's a win for NASCAR, and a 2.5 rating is pretty damn good for FS1, which is still struggling for a foothold outside of NASCAR programming.


And remember, the move to FS1 and NBCSN for races has a double-objective. While NASCAR is getting a ton of money over the next 10 years, both networks have anchor programming for their fledgling networks. They can also use that programming to demand to be on all of the basic cable tiers of major television providers.



A sixth of the way through the season is too early to make a rash judgment, but if the season doesn't improve, yes, it's entirely possible a change could be made. And hell, maybe there could be a repeat of 2011 with Stewart's title run and Darian Grubb's departure.


But that's a long way off and switching crew chiefs isn't always an applicable solution to speed issues. And if a change was made post-2015, Stewart would be on his third crew chief since Grubb and fourth in six seasons. That's downright English Premier League-like.



It'd have to be something that's uniform across the board, and while there's time for qualifying on Saturday on some track schedules, there isn't on others.


And you can make the effective argument that practice is more important than qualifying if it's a question of bumping practice for qualifying to make sure it happened. Teams get a chance to work on their cars in race setups and there also aren't 50 cars showing up to the track every week. Right now, less than a handful of cars are going home. And they're generally very small low-budget teams.


Brian's Reese's comment also leads us to the non-racing part of Happy Hour. In our tweet soliciting questions, we promised to talk about Easter candy.



Here's our Easter Candy Power Rankings. We can all agree that Peeps are the worst, right?


1. Cadbury Creme Eggs

2. Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs

3. Cadbury Mini Eggs

4. Caramel/Peanut Butter filled bunnies

5. Snickers Eggs

6. Solid chocolate bunnies

7. Easter M&Ms (just because there's no taste difference)

8. Anything else not Peeps

1,000,000. Peeps


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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!







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News sport : LeBron James on coaches letting him call plays: 'Why wouldn't you?'

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LeBron James, a basketball savant who was pegged as a potential contender for the Greatest Player Ever before he could even legally drive, calls out his own plays. Knock us over with a feather.


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ESPN’s Brian Windhorst recently relayed that James is often seen beating coach David Blatt to play calls in the Cavalier offense, and that he’ll often change the play as he sees fit for a Cavalier team that has completely turned its season around of late.


On Thursday, LeBron went all improv on us and asked, “yes, and?”


From Joe Vardon at the Northeast Ohio Media Group:



"I've done it every game for probably the last 11 years," James said after shootaround this morning, ahead of tonight's home game against the Miami Heat. "My rookie year I didn't have the freedom, I wasn't smart enough to do it. The last 11 years, I've done it every game."




[…]




"Why wouldn't you give me the freedom for playcalling? That's like telling Peyton Manning or Tom Brady, don't give them the freedom to change in the huddle," James said. "I'm a smart, cerebral basketball player, my basketball IQ is very high, and I take that very seriously, so I know what best suits our team and our coaching staff does as well.




"But, you don't allow me to call plays throughout the course of a game, then that's not good for our team."




[…]




"I can come down the floor and know what happened two possessions ago, or three possessions ago or a quarter ago and know how we can exploit a defense," James said. "It's just my knowledge of the game. I know how defense works, how they play me, and I can call a set to get my teammate an open shot every time, just knowing how the defense plays me. So being able to have that mind frame and that basketball IQ benefits our team."



If that comes down as a little overconfident, then watch LeBron play on Thursday night – if anything, he’s selling his abilities short. If you don’t like how many flowery words he used to describe himself, get over it, he’s earned it, sue him if he plays too long. And James, famed (and even criticized) for his passing, isn’t exactly calling his own number or pumping up his scoring average.


And if you think James’ teammates are frustrated by his approach, take a look at what Jeff Zillgitt at USA Today came up with, in talking with Cavalier point guard Kyrie Irving:



"He's grown every single day," James said. "Each month has been a learning experience for him and he's gotten more serious about the game, understanding what this moment can be for himself, for us as a team."



Without question, Irving enjoys having James as a teammate, calling it "one of the greatest experiences in my life. … The game is fun, and I just love playing with him."


Cleveland has gone 29-7 since the middle of January. That’s a 67-win pace, spread out over a full season.


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One of the more underreported troubles for coaches that make the jump from the NCAA to NBA is massive catch-up time coaches need in order to properly scout the 400-odd players they thought they knew something about while watching from afar. It’s true that former NCAA coaches often fail because they’re unable to parlay a snake oil trade with adult professionals, or if their roster is lacking or if their coaching is just plain bad, but learning the tendencies of individual opponents and sets of 29 other teams on the fly is a devastating charge.


David Blatt comes to the NBA with a wealth of international professional experience, and we don’t doubt his dogged pursuit of NBA know-how, but it takes a while to catch up. And sometimes you need to rely on a guy who has been in the NBA since 2003, and one that routinely plays deep into June, to figure out the best way to slip past Roy Hibbert and David West in December. To determine when Kevin Martin usually looks the other way. Sometimes it helps having a photographic memory when George Karl busts out a 2006-era defensive set that wasn’t included in the most recent game tapes David Blatt pored over.


If LeBron James’ camp wants to make David Blatt look bad, then this is just what you deal with. If James’ crew is running the Cavaliers in the same way that doomed the team towards the end of his first go-round in Ohio, then oh bloody well. LeBron James is 30, he’s already played more combined regular and postseason minutes than Larry Bird, and he’s proven he can win it all in ways that he was capable of five years ago.


If David Blatt can create an attack that will serve as something bigger than the sum of its parts, then we’d love to see it – because the sum total of what we’ve seen from Cleveland over the last two and a half months should have the rest of the NBA quivering.


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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!






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News sport : Golden State Warriors star in new 'Not In Our Town' anti-bullying PSA

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Several members of the Golden State Warriors — All-Stars Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, Defensive Player of the Year candidate Draymond Green, veteran guard Shaun Livingston and head coach Steve Kerr — appear in a new public service announcement, produced in partnership with the Oakland-based nonprofit Not In Our Town, aimed at addressing the problems of "physical, verbal and cyberbullying."


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"Bullying should never be tolerated," says Green in the brief spot, which premiered Thursday.


"Not on our ground," adds Thompson.


"Not in our town," says Curry.


In connection with the PSA, the Warriors and Not In Our Town are encouraging fans to take a pledge to "stand up to all forms of hate, bigotry and bullying" in their communities, helping create safe, inclusive environments for people from all backgrounds, both in the Bay Area and beyond.


The issue of bullying has not often been a major part of NBA discussion, but it has come to the forefront at times in recent years. Back in 2011, then-Phoenix Suns swingmen Grant Hill and Jared Dudley teamed with the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network for a similar spot decrying the use of anti-gay language among teens:



The league also sent an anti-hazing memorandum to all 30 NBA teams in November 2013, in the aftermath of the locker-room scandal surrounding then-Miami Dolphins offensive linemen Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin. The NBA memo clearly forbid, among other things, "any physical abuse or threats of violence; verbal abuse focused on an individual’s race, nationality, color, gender, age, religion, sexuality, etc.; destruction, defacement or theft of a fellow player’s personal property; engaging in any activity that intimidates or threatens fellow players with ostracism or inflicts extreme mental stress, embarrassment, humiliation or shame; and forcing an individual to engage in any activity or perform any task that violates federal, state or local law or NBA rules and regulations." (Some vestiges of so-called "rookie hazing" still persist, however.)


Multiple NBA voices, from players like LeBron James and Amir Johnson to Washington Wizards owner Ted Leonsis, spoke out in opposition to locker-room bullying or hazing at that time. Others, such as the Suns' Gerald Green, have continued to connect with their communities, finding common ground with fans by sharing their own stories of being bullied or ostracized as youths.


On one hand, such interactions help make clear just how damaging exclusionary behavior or language can be, even for those who possess the kinds of gifts and skills that many others envy. On the other, they can also help show young people that it's possible to not only survive such treatment, but thrive and go on to accomplish great things.


Efforts like these PSAs might not lead to a mass abandonment of the sort of ill-considered cruelty that can cut to the bone. If they get even a small portion of those who watch to think twice about how their words and actions affect others, though, that seems like a pretty powerful tool, and a pretty worthwhile way for those who've risen to wealth and fame to deploy their power and prominence.


- - - - - - -


Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!



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Lloris still out for Tottenham

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Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Hugo Lloris will miss Sunday's Premier League trip to struggling Burnley as he recovers from a gashed knee.


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London - Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Hugo Lloris will miss Sunday's Premier League trip to struggling Burnley as he recovers from a gashed knee suffered two weeks ago against Leicester City.


The France international was carried off on a stretcher early in the 4-3 win against Leicester City and missed his country's friendlies against Brazil and Denmark.


“Hugo Lloris is still recovering after his problem against Leicester - he is out,” Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino said at a news conference on Thursday.


Michel Vorm will deputise for Lloris.


Spanish striker Roberto Soldado is also a doubt for the match at Turf Moor, where Tottenham need a victory to stay on the edge of the fight for a top-four finish.


Tottenham are in seventh place in the table with eight games remaining, six points behind fourth-placed Manchester United and with a far worse goal difference.


However, Pochettino said he hopes the quartet of players who featured for England on Tuesday against Italy will be have received a timely confidence boost.


Harry Kane started his first senior England international in Turin, while Andros Townsend came off the bench to score a superb equaliser. Ryan Mason earned his first senior cap while Kyle Walker was also involved.


“It's been a very good week for Tottenham,” he said.


“The English players and others with their international teams have put in good performances. They are all fit and at a very good level.”


Reuters






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News sport : Report: ESPN won't renew its contract with Bob Knight

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Bobby Knight before an NCAA college basketball game between Connecticut and Stanford in Hartford, Conn., Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Fred Beckham) Bob Knight reportedly won’t return to ESPN as a college basketball analyst next season.


According to Sports Illustrated, the network “will not renew its contract” with Knight, whose final broadcast with the network will be the NIT championship game between Stanford and Miami at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET.


Knight, the Hall of Fame head coach at Army, Indiana and Texas Tech, originally joined ESPN after his retirement from TTU in 2008.


He has served as an in-game color analyst and has also appeared as an in-studio analyst on various ESPN programs. He’s had his share of interesting moments during his time as a broadcaster.


In February, the 74-year-old Knight began screaming at someone while live on the air to move out of his view during a SMU-Temple game in Dallas.



Knight also had a head-scratching moment during a 2013 Kentucky-Vanderbilt game where he inexplicably could not understand the difference between the shot clock and game clock. A year earlier, Knight decided not to say “Kentucky” on the air, instead referring to the Wildcats as the “team from the SEC.”


Knight previously worked as one of ESPN’s lead color analysts for SEC and Big 12 games, but most recently called American Athletic Conference games with Mike Patrick this season.


An ESPN spokesman declined to comment on SI’s report.


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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!







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World football must respect Africa

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Fifa president says world football must "respect" Africa, a bastion of support for the veteran sports powerbroker


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Fifa president Sepp Blatter said that world football must “respect” Africa, a bastion of support for the veteran sports powerbroker as he seeks a new term.


Blatter sent his message ahead of the Confederation of African Football (Caf) congress next week. His rivals for the presidency, who say Fifa's scandal-tainted image needs reform, will also be at the meeting and have been lobbying African leaders.


“When we travel to Cairo for the Caf congress next week, we must show African football all the great appreciation and respect it deserves,” Blatter said in his column Fifa's The Weekly magazine.


The 79-year-old Fifa president said “the refreshing skills and technical finesse of the African teams are among the greatest attractions at the World Cup”. Two African nations reached the World Cup last 16 in Brazil for the first time.


“Credit for this development must also go to Caf president Issa Hayatou,” Blatter said.


“Using strategic wisdom and sure instinct in the world of sports politics, he has succeeded in keeping this vast continent together in all its linguistic, ethnic and cultural diversity.”


Africa has long been a strong supporter of Blatter and has declared it will back him in the May 30 Fifa election.


His three rivals for the Fifa presidency – Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan, a Fifa vice president, Dutch federation chief Michael van Praag and former Portugal star Luis Figo – are expected to be in Cairo for the Caf congress.


Caf's 54 members makes it the biggest voting bloc on Fifa, just ahead of Europe's Uefa which opposes a new Blatter term.


The Swiss official has several times encouraged Africa to seek more World Cup places.


“The power of football is arguably even more significant in Africa than the rest of the world, because it symbolises a common denominator for all peoples, nations and tribes,” Blatter said. – AFP






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News sport : Sim Bhullar's coming to the Sacramento Kings, and that's a pretty big deal

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The Sacramento Kings made a bit of history on Thursday, officially calling up center Sim Bhullar from their D-League affiliate, the Reno Bighorns, and signing him to a 10-day contract on Thursday. The 7-foot-5, 360-pound Bhullar is the first player of Indian descent to appear on an NBA team's regular-season roster.


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Bhullar's decision to turn pro last spring after two years at New Mexico State — a stint that saw the Aggies make consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, with Bhullar earning recognition as the Most Valuable Player in the 2014 Western Athletic Conference Tournament for his work patrolling the paint — shocked many observers who saw the massive center's raw skill-set and lacking conditioning as glaring problems that would prevent him from being able to make an immediate impact at the NBA level. While such critiques overlooked the fact that players of Bhullar's dimensions often have shorter careers and more limited windows for pro earning potential than their smaller peers, making it entirely reasonable that he'd make the jump even without being fully ready for the NBA game, the underpinnings of the argument were accurate, and Bhullar was not selected in the 2014 NBA draft.


He did, however, catch on with the Kings' Las Vegas Summer League team. Despite playing only a minor role — just 10 total minutes in four games — on the team that won the Vegas title, Bhullar's unique size and background made him an attractive enough commodity to Mumbai-born Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé for Sacramento to sign the center to a training-camp contract back in August.


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"I've long believed that India is the next great frontier for the NBA, and adding a talented player like Sim only underscores the exponential growth basketball has experienced in that nation," Ranadivé said in a press release announcing Bhullar's signing. "While Sim is the first player of Indian descent to sign with an NBA franchise, he represents one of many that will emerge from that region as the game continues to garner more attention and generate ever-increasing passion among a new generation of Indian fans."


The emergence took some time, though, as the Kings waived Bhullar 10 days before the start of the season and sent him down to Reno for some of the conditioning and skill-development work many felt he needed coming out of college. The hulking Toronto native seemed an odd stylistic fit with a Reno club that hired David Arseneault Jr., a former assistant on run-and-gun Division III squad Grinnell College, to bring a fast-paced system to the Kings' D-League squad. But Bhullar has, somewhat surprisingly, flourished in the uptempo style, averaging 10.3 points, 8.8 rebounds and 3.9 blocks in 25.8 minutes per game in Reno:



Bhullar leads the D-League in field-goal percentage (72.7 percent) and block percentage, rejecting 9.5 percent of opponents' field-goal attempts during his time on the floor. Back in February, he posted the first triple-double of his professional career, scoring 26 points, snagging 17 rebounds and blocking 11 shots in a matchup with the L.A. D-Fenders, the Los Angeles Lakers' D-League affiliate.


The Bighorns kept Bhullar's minutes down and gave him multiple rest days in the early going. As the season has gone on, though, Bhullar has reportedly dropped more than 30 pounds, helping him to seem more comfortable staying out on the court for longer stretches, averaging 30.4 minutes per game in March, including five contests in which he logged at least 37 minutes.


If a trimmed-down version of Bhullar can get up and down at the NBA level, his sheer size and presence as a paint-clogging rim protector could make him an intriguing piece for new Kings head coach George Karl to play with.


"He adds a very interesting dimension to the game," Karl told ESPN.com's Marc Stein, who first reported Bhullar was likely to get the call-up. "And our game is becoming an international game and India is becoming one of the greatest, largest, biggest democracies in the world and I think it's a good story and hopefully we'll find some minutes for him."


Reports earlier this week suggested that Karl and the Kings were considering shutting down All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins as Sacramento plays out the string of yet another lottery-bound season. While Cousins did play against the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night, putting up a remarkable 24-point, 21-rebound, 10-assist, six-block, three-steal triple-double but coming up short thanks to James Harden's career-high 51-point explosion, giving him a bit of a breather down the stretch could give Karl a chance to take a look at Bhullar first-hand, and would give Bhullar the chance to take the next step in his historic journey — from first player of Indian descent to sign a contract, to first player of Indian descent to appear on a regular-season roster, to first player of Indian descent to actually appear in an NBA game.


If and when Bhullar does check in off the Kings' bench, it will represent a watershed moment that "has been a long, long time coming," as Akshay Manwani wrote for NBA India:


The Germans first had Detlef Schrempf and then Dirk Nowitzki. The Australians sent big-man Luc Longley to play alongside [Michael] Jordan and Scottie Pippen in the 1990s while the Croatians had Drazen Petrovic and Toni Kukoc. Arvydas Sabonis came to play from Lithuania but before him there was Sarunas Marciulionis. The French had Tony Parker. The Argentinians had Manu Ginobili. The Chinese, our neighbours, and rivals on several fronts, had Yao Ming, whose selection in the 2002 NBA Draft caused an overnight surge in the following of the game in China.

With the increasing presence of players from across the globe in the NBA and better television coverage of the league in India, hoops fans were waiting for someone from amongst our own to cheer for. As the NBA invested in the game in India, building at the grassroots level, educating coaches, holding clinics for children and the youth, we knew it was only a matter of time before the ‘chosen one’ came along. But patience is a rare virtue in today’s day and age and so we asked anybody who visited — David Stern, Chris Bosh, Bruce Bowen — when, oh when would an Indian player make his NBA debut? Some said ‘three years’, some said ‘five’. Some said ‘soon’, while others simply asked us to, well, ‘be patient’.

In the meantime, we wore LeBron James inspired headbands, imitated Kobe Bryant’s swagger, cheered for the Chicago Bulls, the San Antonio Spurs, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Boston Celtics, but ultimately yearned and awaited for the coming of that one prodigal son into the league, whom we could raucously applaud for being our own.

The time for such applause is almost at hand. Seems like a slightly bigger deal than your average 10-day contract in the last two weeks of a season, huh?


- - - - - - -


Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!



Stay connected with Ball Don't Lie on Twitter @YahooBDL, "Like" BDL on Facebook and follow Dunks Don't Lie on Tumblr for year-round NBA talk, jokes and more.






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News sport : Fantasy Baseball Rankings: First Base

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More rankings: Top 250 | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | C | OF | SP | RP


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1B Rankings

Yahoo! Sports

Composite


Brandon

Funston


Andy

Behrens


Scott

Pianowski


Dalton

Del Don


FantasyPros

All Experts

1. Paul Goldschmidt (ARI) 1113view
2. Miguel Cabrera (DET) 2221view
3. Jose Dariel Abreu (CWS) 3332view
4. Jose Bautista (TOR) 5444view
5. Edwin Encarnacion (TOR) 4665view
6. Anthony Rizzo (CHC) 6556view
7. Adrian Gonzalez (LAD) 8979view
8. Buster Posey (SF) 77912view
9. Freddie Freeman (ATL) 121087view
10. Albert Pujols (LAA) 98158view
11. Prince Fielder (TEX) 10131211view
12. Joey Votto (CIN) 11141310view
13. David Ortiz (BOS) 14111113view
14. Todd Frazier (CIN) 15121014view
15. Victor Martinez (DET) 13151416view
16. Carlos Santana (CLE) 16181718view
17. Chris Davis (BAL) 18251615view
18. Chris Carter (HOU) 27171817view
19. Jonathan Lucroy (MIL) 17192026view
20. Matt Adams (STL) 20162622view
21. Brandon Belt (SF) 22202419view
22. Mark Trumbo (ARI) 19222323view
23. Eric Hosmer (KC) 24272520view
24. Adam LaRoche (CWS) 23242130view
25. Brandon Moss (CLE) 28232821view
26. Justin Morneau (COL) 25302224view
27. Lucas Duda (NYM) 31211931view
28. Brian McCann (NYY) 21312925view
29. Mike Napoli (BOS) 26262729view
30. Steve Pearce (BAL) 30363328view
30. Michael Cuddyer (NYM) 32333032view
32. Billy Butler (OAK) 35293135view
33. Adam Lind (MIL) 36323233view
34. Pedro Alvarez (PIT) 29–3727view
34. Joe Mauer (MIN) 34283438view
36. Chase Headley (NYY) 37353536view
37. Michael Morse (MIA) 38343637view
38. Mark Teixeira (NYY) 39373934view
39. Kennys Vargas (MIN) 33––39view
40. Stephen Vogt (OAK) –38––view
40. Lonnie Chisenhall (CLE) ––38–view
42. Kendrys Morales (KC) –39––view
43. Ryan Howard (PHI) –40––view
43. C.J. Cron (LAA) –––40view
43. Allen Craig (BOS) 40–––view
43. Justin Smoak (TOR) ––40–view

FantasyPros aggregates and analyzes fantasy baseball rankings and projections from 100+ sites.






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