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MIAMI -- What was once viewed as an extreme longshot is now a real possibility.The Miami Marlins, after beating the Cincinnati Reds for a second straight game on Saturday, are 46-41 with only Sundays series finale remaining before the All-Star break.Baseball Prospectus ranks the Marlins as the third-most-likely playoff wild-card. True, only two wild-card teams make the postseason, and those spots are currently held by the New York Mets and the Los Angeles Dodgers.But the Marlins, given a 21-percent playoff chance, are in the hunt.When only the wild-card chances are considered, the Dodgers are at 48.8 percent, the Mets are 46.1 percent, and the Marlins are 17.7 percent.The Reds (32-56) are given a 0.0 percent chance of making the playoffs.On Sunday, Miami will hand the ball to right-hander Tom Koehler (6-7. 4.40 ERA) against Cincinnati left-hander Cody Reed (0-3, 9.00 ERA).Koehler is 0-1 with a 0.00 ERA in 10 career innings against Cincinnati. Reed, a rookie, has never faced Miami and will make only his fifth career appearance.So are the Marlins legit contenders?Here are five things that kind of need to happen for Miami to have a shot:--The Marlins need to find a competent fifth starter, probably via trade. The Marlins have tried Jarred Cosart, Justin Nicolino and Paul Clemens in that spot, with very little success. Nicolino has been demoted to the minors twice this year.--Second baseman Dee Gordon, due back on July 29 from an 80-game suspension for using performance-enhancing drugs, needs to return to form. Gordon won a Gold Glove and became the first player since Jackie Robinson in 1949 to win the NL batting and steals titles in the same year. If Gordon can be close to that guy again, it would give Miami a huge boost.--Right fielder Giancarlo Stanton needs to have a consistent and productive second half. He slumped through most of the first half. But when he is right, he might be the most fearsome slugger in the game.--The Marlins have to do a better job of beating the bad teams. They have struggled mightily against the woeful Atlanta Braves, going 4-8, and that cannot continue to happen.--Finally, the Marlins have to have some good luck on injuries. They have been relatively healthy so far. First baseman Justin Bour should be back from a sore ankle about the time the All-Star break ends. Beyond that, the team has been much healthier than some of the teams they are chasing, most notably the injury-plagued Mets.If that trend continues for Miami, and they get some of those other aforementioned things to happen, there could be playoff baseball for the first time in the brief history of Marlins Park, which opened in 2012. Cheap Adidas Shoes Online . Peter Holland and Brad Staubitz were sent to Toronto on Saturday as the Maple Leafs traded defenceman Jesse Blacker and draft picks to the Anaheim Ducks. Womens Adidas Nz . 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As opposites do attract we are set for a corker of an opener. Englands batting versus spinR Ashwin tweeted his congratulations after Bangladesh secured their historic Test win over England last month - but the details of Englands collapse on the third evening in Dhaka, when they lost 10 wickets in a session, surely excited him even more. The teenaged Mehedi Hasan, an orthodox offspinner, picked up his third six-for in four innings to be named Man of the Series and left England in no doubt about the size of the challenge facing them on the subcontinent. Ashwin recently claimed 27 wickets at 17.77 in three Tests against New Zealand, while Ravindra Jadeja is a metronomic menace on helpful surfaces, and they are primed to pick apart English techniques against spin; among the top seven, only Alastair Cook (who averages 61.85 in India) has significant experience of the conditions. Englands batsmen face not so much a learning curve as a cliff if they are to avoid getting turned over.The leading lights: Kohli and RootIndias captain, Virat Kohli, sets the tone in the field and with bat in hand, while England will seek inspiration from Joe Root, the highest-ranked batsman on either side. For both, this could be a defining series. Kohli has banked more than his share of failures against England, averaging 20.12 in 17 Test innings, but has a vastly improved record since taking over from MS Dhoni, which includes two double-hundreds in the last four months. Root, meanwhile, has established himself among the best in his generation since making 73 on debut in Nagpur four years ago - but is still awaiting a first Test hundred in Asia. Sam Billings, one of the few Englishmen to play in the IPL, says Kohli and Root share a work ethic that sets them apart. Theyre both seriously, seriously good, he said. Id go as far as to say theyre freaks, but with a kind of un-freakish nature. May the best freak win.India versus Moeen Ali: Round TwoDuring the summer of 2014, England faced a dilemma about how to replace Graeme Swann. Moeen Ali was picked and, despite an underwhelming debut series against Sri Lanka, he suckered India spectacularly on the way to 19 wickets at 23.00 as England came from behind for a 3-1 series win. A couple of years on and England still have plenty of problems in the spin department but Moeen is sure to have a key role (not least because of his batting). He admitted in Bangladesh that he is still nowhere near where I want to be as a spinner and has struggled withh the demands of leading an inexperienced spin attack: wicket-taking deliveries will doubtless materialise but control remains an issue.dddddddddddd Bangladesh and, in particular, Pakistan have found success in attacking Moeen but that was Indias downfall in their last meeting. If Moeen maintains his mozz, things could get interesting.The role of the rookiesIndia have three uncapped players in their 15-man squad, while England head into the first Test having fielded a debutant in their previous two matches. Indias young guns, Hardik Pandya and Karun Nair, may be in a shootout for one place but the absence of Rohit Sharma means an inexperienced pivot at No. 6 (unless they go for a five-man attack); there is also the possibility of KL Rahul returning from injury to win his 10th Test cap, should Gautam Gambhirs latest comeback not go to plan. For the tourists, there is a decision to make on whether to stick Ben Duckett and his reverse-sweep stylings at the top of the order - after one fifty in four innings in Bangladesh - or bring in another new face in Haseeb Hameed. England may also stick with Zafar Ansari, on the grounds that he will turn the ball away from Indias right-handers. By Christmas, some of those names might ring a few more bells.Batsman-wicketkeeper versus wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow is two-thirds of the way through a record-breaking year as Englands Test wicketkeeper. In Bangladesh, he first passed Andy Flowers mark for the most runs by a wicketkeeper in a calendar year (and could still eclipse Michael Vaughans overall England record); then he moved ahead of Matt Prior with the most calendar year dismissals for England. And yet… as soon as Bairstow drops a chance, as he did in the Chittagong Test, the murmurs about whether he merits the gloves will return. Five matches in six weeks in India will stretch him in every way imaginable and the scrutiny will be sharpened by the contrast with the oppositions man. Wriddhiman Saha is something of a throwback, a wicketkeeper first and batsman second (although he can certainly hold his own), tidying up assiduously behind the stumps. He was only required to take two catches in three Tests against New Zealand but, after almost two years in the job, he has achieved the wicketkeepers grail: not being talked about. ' ' '