The San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat will meet in the NBA Finals for the second year in a row beginning on Thursday. The two teams took part in an epic Finals a year ago with the Heat prevailing in seven games to win their second title in as many years.
2014 Stanley Cup Final Preview – Battle of the Big Markets
The Stanley Cup playoff starts Wednesday and pits a New York teams against a Los Angeles team for the first time in Major Sports action since 1981. The New York Rangers earned the right to play for the Cup off series wins against Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and the Montreal Canadiens.
The Miami Marlins host the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday in the second game of a home-and-home four-game set that starts out in Miami before heading to Tampa on Wednesday. The opener in this one went to the Marlins on Monday as they claimed a 3-1 victory behind starter Randy Wolf.
The New York Yankees host the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday in the opener of a three-game set at Yankee Stadium. The Athletics come to town as one of the top teams in baseball at the moment, while the Yankees are struggling to stay above .500.
The Minnesota Twins and the Brewers will play game two of a four-game series on Tuesday night in Milwaukee, with the home team looking for its third consecutive win.
The Nationals (27-28) are known for their wealth of talented pitching. Some hurlers are helping DC hang around the NL East divisional race – but it’s not the pitchers you might think.
The San Francisco Giants continue to hum along. They are 8-2 in their last 10 after winning their series in St. Louis over the weekend and they have the best record in baseball.
So far, the trend for Japan has been to go out early in the World Cup finals, advancing only one time past the group stage and never past the round of 16 in five previous tries.
With one of the World’s best strikers and an impressive qualifying campaign, Colombia is hoping that it’s past World Cup final luck will change in 2014, as they enter this year’s tournament beaming with confidence.
With the likes of Yaya Toure and Didier Drogba among their ranks, the Ivory Coast are perhaps the best of the African teams playing in this year’s World Cup final.
Although Greece has only appeared in two World Cup finals and have not progressed beyond the group stage, with a solid squad that has some good attacking talent and a staunch defense, they are poised to make a strong run this summer in Brazil.
The St. Louis Cardinals host the Kansas City Royals on Monday night in the opening game of a home-and-home four game series beginning at Busch Stadium.
This year’s USA side has the players and the manager to make decent run in the World Cup finals in Brazil, but they have been handed the misfortune of being placed in one of the toughest groups in the tournament.
Despite being the outsider of Group G, Ghana enters the 2014 World Cup finals as a side that has registered a pair of very strong showings in only two appearances, which included reaching the knockout rounds on both occasions and almost getting to the semifinals in 2010.
Group H is definitely not the most competitive group. This is in part in that Belgium is still considered a surprise favourite at a World Cup as they have not traditionally been this good and everyone seems to be wondering whether they are really capable of winning a big event like this.
The World Cup is only a couple of short weeks away – the excitement is ramping up as is the expectation for each team as they enter the pressure cooker that is the world’s biggest football event. The usual suspects are at the top of the favorites list – and rightfully so.
