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Whining about a teams schedule is about as old as the game itself. However as the Wild Card races heat up over the final two months of the season, its clear certain teams and divisions have a distinct advantage. In the American League East for instance, the top four teams are a collective 58 games above .500. Yet in all likelihood based on what the schedules look like the rest of the way, only one Wild Card team will come out of the East. Any one of the four could make it to the postseason and three of the four - Boston, Tampa Bay and Baltimore - still have a chance to win the division outright with a third of the season to go. However when you look at the schedules for the seasons last 50-odd games, you see the odds are distinctly skewed against the Eastern clubs. Boston, who is leading the division by a game over Tampa Bay through Thursday night, has 52 games left. 35 games are against the so-called good teams that are above .500 or are in contention, while only 17 are against teams at .500 or below. Tampa Bays schedule is marginally better with 26 games against the good clubs, and 28 against the bad. They also have only three head-to-head games left with the Red Sox. The Rays also close out their season at Rogers Centre with three against the Blue Jays, while the Bosox finish up with three in Baltimore. The Orioles schedule is more in line with Bostons. The Os play 32 games against quality clubs and just 21 against below-par outfits. Just based on these three teams skeds, I would pick Tampa Bay to win the East, Boston to finish second and maybe hang on for a Wild Card and Baltimore to miss out. Then you have the Yankees. They are longshots to make the postseason even though they are only three-and-a-half games out of the second Wild Card, but the truth is they have the easiest schedule left of the top four teams in the East. There are 26 games against teams above .500 and 30 against teams with a sub-.500 record. Note only that nine of their final 12 games are against the teams in the lower echelon including three at Houston to end the campaign. The major difference in schedules comes when you look at the other two divisions. Central-leading Detroit plays 29 of its remaining games against lesser clubs including 13 in a row to end the season, culminating with a three-game set in Miami against the lowly Marlins to close it out. Cleveland at the very least has a shot at a Wild Card spot and quite possibly the Central title. Terry Franconas crew is riding an eight-game win streak and plays only 22 of its remaining games against teams with winning records. Their final 10 games are against teams with losing records including a wrap-up four-game series in the "Twin" cities against Minnesota. Are we seeing a trend yet? Kansas City is even hotter than Cleveland and plays 32 of its final 55 against below-.500 clubs, including its final seven games of the season - closing it out with four on the road against the White Sox. In the West keep your eye on Texas. They have the easiest schedule on paper of any of the American League contenders. They only have 19 games against the good clubs, 34 against the lesser lights. They also wrap up at home with three against Houston and four against the Angels. The schedule of West-leading Oakland is just about on par with the Yankees in the East. The As play 24 against the good, 29 against the not-so-good, but after a three-game series with the Rangers from September 13-15, their final 13 games are against clubs with losing records. The unbalanced schedule and the weaker Central and West Divisions have created this situation. Thats why as good as the East is, I cant see more than one Wild Card coming out of that division, and its still possible there will be none. It could just as easily be one from the Central and one from the West. If you were wondering about the Blue Jays, they have 16 remaining against teams with losing records, 36 versus winning clubs, and 28 against their own division. Their most meaningful games could come on the final weekend of the season when they play host to Tampa Bay. The Rays playoff hopes could be riding on that series. In the National League theres not much to get excited about in the Wild Card picture. Arizona is four-and-a-half out and has the only reasonable shot at catching Cincinnati for that second Wild Card slot. The Division races are more exciting. St. Louis is just a game-and-a-half back of Pittsburgh in the Central, and the Diamondbacks are within three of the Dodgers in the West. I guess the bottom line question is to see if the really good teams can overcome tough schedules and strong divisions. In the 13 World Series since 2000, the American League East has sent a team seven times - winning four and losing three. Stitched Nike NBA Jerseys .ca. Kerry, Just watched the shootout in the Coyotes/Leafs game and I have to ask, why was the James van Riemsdyk goal allowed to count? All of the video replays we were shown on TV were inconclusive about whether the puck had entirely crossed the line or not. Wholesale Nike NBA Jerseys . The veteran safety was a starter for the Bengals from 2008-2012. 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BOSTON -- The daily fantasy sports industry notched some wins but failed to capture a majority of states after an all-out push this year to preserve its legality amid concerns the online games amount to illegal sports betting operations.Six states -- Colorado, Missouri, Mississippi, Tennessee, Indiana and Virginia -- enacted laws legalizing and regulating games offered by Bostons DraftKings, New Yorks FanDuel and dozens of other smaller operators. They join Kansas, which passed a law legalizing the games last year.But 21 other legislatures, including Arizona, Florida, Maryland and Washington, declined to take action this year before adjourning.And six more are still in session and could enact regulations, including key, high population states like California, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.In New York, a bill awaits the governors signature and in Massachusetts, the state attorney general issued consumer protection rules earlier this year but other fantasy sports-related bills are also before lawmakers.Many bills introduced this year would cover not just controversial daily fantasy sports games, but traditional, season long fantasy sports competitions played by millions.Some, like a proposal that died in Hawaii, would have banned fantasy games outright. Others, like proposals in Maryland, would have called for a voter referendum.Most bills, however, treat the games as distinct from legalized gambling and impose a range of requirements like licensing and registration fees, taxes on revenues, independent audits, minimum age requirements and state oversight.Players in fantasy sports contests generally pick teams of real life athletes and score points based on how well those players do in games. The contests can be for free, as the season long variety often are, or can require entry fees and offer lucrative cash prizes, as the daily games tend to do.Spokespersons for DraftKings and FanDuel, the daily fantasy industrys largest companies, said theyre pleased with the progress so far.Its pretty amazing what we were able to accomplish in such a short period of time, says Peter Schoenke, chairman of the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, which hired about 65 lobbying firms across the country to advocate on bills in over 30 states. Its hard to pass legislation in the first year. Most of the time, its a multiple-year effort.But Chris Krafcik, a research director at GamblingCompliance Research Services, a firm thats been tracking the legislation, says the patchwork of differing state regulations taking shape could have serious implications for the relatively new industry.Fifty states with 50 different sets of regulations will likely give rise to compliance costs that the fantasy industry -- particularly smaller players -- will struggle to absorb, he says. We can easily imagine a future, cost-prohibitive market controlled by a small nummber of large players.ddddddddddddSmall operators say the new laws are beginning that winnowing process.The impact has been devastating. We simply cant afford the fees, says Rishi Nangia, whos considering relocating Syde, the daily fantasy sports company he co-founded, after its home state of Virginia imposed a $50,000 registration fee. So even in states where we technically won a right to exist, we are unable to offer our games.The industry also encountered pushback from anti-gambling activists, who complained proposed requirements to protect players from fraud, gambling addiction and other problems werent stringent enough.Les Bernal, national director for the Washington, D.C.-based Stop Predatory Gambling, said that in many proposals, audits are conducted by a third party hired by the company, which he argues amounts to self-regulation.The point of these online gambling bills is to give the appearance of regulation and create the impression this is being done on behalf of consumers, he said. The so-called `consumer protections are toothless.In Illinois, legislation was effectively shelved after a Democratic state representative alleged a fantasy sports lobbyist had offered lawmakers donations in exchange for support of the bill, a charge the industry vehemently denied.And in California, Oklahoma and elsewhere, some influential American Indian tribes operating casinos have slowed or blocked passage of legislation by raising concerns that legalizing fantasy sports might, among other things, undermine tribal gambling compacts.Going forward, Schoenke says the association will be pushing for laws like those passed in Colorado and proposed in Florida that either waive or reduce fees and other regulatory requirements for smaller companies.The industry will also be looking to push bills in big market states like Texas where the legislature did not meet this year but where regulators or elected officials have issued regulations and opinions unfavorable to the industry.Next year, were going in with a bunch of momentum, Schoenke said.Heres where the states that considered fantasy sports bills this year stand:LEGISLATION ENACTED: Colorado, Missouri, Mississippi, Tennessee, Indiana, VirginiaLEGISLATION PENDING: Illinois, California, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York (awaiting governors signature), PennsylvaniaLEGISLATION FAILED OR NO ACTION TAKEN: Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin.---Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo. 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