I dont know if Theo Epstein is the most important member of the Chicago Cubs organization, but hey, the man did trade for Anthony Rizzo,?and happily drafted Kris Bryant when the Houston Astros passed on him, and stole Jake Arrieta from the Baltimore Orioles, and acquired Kyle Hendricks from the Texas Rangers for a few starts of Ryan Dempster, and flipped Jeff Samardzija into Addison Russell, and convinced Jon Lester to head to Wrigley Field.That, my friends, is some fine dining. The Cubs rewarded their president of baseball operations with a five-year contract extension that Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports is expected to be worth $50 million. The Cubs also extended the contracts of Epsteins top lieutenants, general manager Jed Hoyer and player development chief Jason McLeod.We need to get through the rest of 2016 -- theres a little something about a 108-year title drought the Cubs are aiming to end -- but what will those next five years look like? Lets consider some moves Epstein and company will have to consider. Football Jerseys Sale . The No. 1-ranked Nadal tweaked his back warming up for the Australian Open final, which he lost almost four weeks ago in a major upset against Stanislas Wawrinka. His first stop after the layoff is the clay in Rio as he tests the back and tries to stay healthy for the French Open in three months. Cheap Football Jerseys Authentic . But the quarterback hopes to stay involved in football after officially calling it quits Tuesday. "Id love to look at those opportunities as they arise," Pierce said in an interview from his Winnipeg eatery. http://www.cheapfootballjerseys.us.org/ . It might not have mattered. While the Dodgers are preparing for the playoffs, the Padres showed their future has promise behind two rookies. Cheap Football Jerseys China . That gave fans outside Joe Louis Arena another chance to ask for autographs from the 19-year-old whose stardom in the NHL has arrived earlier than most expected. Discount Football Jerseys . Darren Helm scored on Detroits sixth attempt in the shootout and then Jonas Gustavsson stopped Andrew Shaws shot, lifting the Detroit Red Wings to a 5-4 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night. The roster shuffle is over, the dust has settled and the landscape of competitive Dota 2 for the 2017 season is slowly shaping up. Though no majors have been set in stone, several LANs have been popping up for squads to start getting some matches under their belt before the first major on the road to TI7.MarsTV Dota 2 League is the first international LAN of the season, with four invited foreign teams and four Chinese squads traveling to Xiamen, China to compete from Sept. 28 through Oct. 2. Though a prize pool is a nice start, the real goal of MDL will be for team to gauge both others prowess and their own. Through a group stage and double-elimination bracket, there will be plenty of matches, but which teams are looking the strongest headed into the tournament?Group A: Veterans and NewbeesNewbee, Team Secret, LGD.Forever Young, MVP PhoenixThe top-billed Chinese squad here, Newbee might have struck some fear into the hearts of anyone just a few months ago. The fall roster shuffle was not kind to Newbee, however. Losing three members of its 2016 roster, only Damien kpii Chok and Hu Kaka Liangzhi remain. The newcomers are two former TongFu players and Newbee Youngs mid player Song Sccc Chun, who have had fair regional results but little international experience. Having gone 8-8 since forming the new Newbee, this roster hasnt done much to inspire confidence coming into MDL.Challenging for the top spot in this group will be Team Secret, which spent the offseason recruiting some of the best talent Southeast Asia had to offer. Pyo MP No-a and Lee Forev Sang-don step onto the team off a stellar run at TI6 with MVP Phoenix, and Yeik MidOne Nai Zheng takes over the mid lane after putting up a 4.24 overall KDA in Seattle. Theres no question this Team SEA-cret has the talent and skill, but a few questions linger. Theres just as much pressure to perform when the team puts together as impressive of a roster as last years version of all-star Secret, and tensions from TI6 (and even before then) could still be running high. Communication could also play a huge factor, with players from Korea, Malaysia, Estonia and Sweden.Looking for a strike back against their former teammates will be the remaining members of MVP Phoenix: Kim QO Seon-yeob, Kim Febby Yong-min and Kim DuBu Doo-young. Yong-mins switch from support to core will be one to watch, but eyes will also be on the promoted MVP Hot6 members Kim Velo Tae-sung and Lee Reisen Jun-yeong. This squad has already put up strong results against some SEA teams, though Yong-min has shined in his new role more than Tae-sung or Jun-yeong have in their matches. MVP Phoenix could still bring upsets to the group, but new blood means a little less confidence in its aggressive playstyle.LGD.Forever Young takes the final spot in group A, and though its a perceived underdog right now, this team is more intimidating than the name suggests. A few lesser-known names hide Xie Super Junhao, who played for Vici Gaming during TI4 and 5, and veteran captain Zhang xiao8 Ning, one of the few players who has competed in every International. The team has posted a 17-8 record in China since the end of TI6. There are no internationall results to go off, but those might not be necessary -- a combination of early experience against Chinese squads and some veteran knowledge, guided by The Director himself, could make LGD.dddddddddddd.FY a dark horse in MDL.Group B: Meet in the middle laneEvil Geniuses, OG, Vici Gaming, iG VitalityAll eyes are on Evil Geniuses in this group, where Artour Arteezy Babaev will debut in blue for the third time and Andreas Cr1t- Nielsen takes over in the captains chair. Though Babaev can be thought of as a new player, hes played a total of 453 games under the EG banner, holding a 66.67 percent win-rate. Nielsen will likely be the biggest X-factor, but a look at his record might inspire confidence. He tends to rack up wins in the first games with new teams, going 17-3 in his first 20 games on Monkey Business. Keep an eye on overall team cohesion and movements to see whether Nielsen can adjust to leading this American squad.European squad OG will also be coping with new changes, with Gustav s4 Magnusson taking up the offlane role and former Liquid support Jesse JerAx Vainikka in the four-role. Vainikkas record speaks for itself as one of the best players in Dota 2 in his role, but Magnusson is largely untested in the offlane, and that could be a weak point teams look to exploit. The other pressure point will be Anathan ana Pham, the surprise pickup in the mid lane. A former sub for Invictus Gaming, Pham held a 2.67 KDA across nine games with IG; not a promising record, but when hes on, he delivers results like the 3-0 at NEA 2016 three months ago. Look for Pham to live up to OGs playmaking legacy in the mid lane and provide momentum for this fresh squad in the group stage.Vici Gaming is, for the most part, Vici Reborn reformed. Four former Vici Gaming Reborn members assembled on the Vici proper roster is intimidating for many of these new rosters, who might not have the history and cohesion a cut-and-paste powerhouse team like Reborn might. There is one Achilles heel, though, in the mid lane -- Zheng ghost Jie, who is relatively unknown outside regional Chinese tournaments. Despite a 14-1 record in matchups since TI6, Jie will be matching up with some heavy talent in the mid lane in this group, and teams could easily look to take advantage.Rounding out group B is the second Chinese squad, Invictus Gaming Vitality. A sister squad to iG proper, there are few stars to look for here. A look at the overall record suggests some potential in IGV, as the team has put up wins against Newbee and tied LGD.FY in recent matches. Though the group stage is a little tenuous for this smaller squad, it could easily look to start knocking out other Chinese teams in the main bracket. IGV is a massive question mark against international teams, with barely any experience competing outside of China to speak of, but considering its recent record, this isnt the team to sleep on in group B either. Zhang Yuno Chengjun will be the key player for this team, as hes put up several impressive performances in recent matches as the teams hard carry. ' ' '