MIAMI -- The Miami Marlins are getting a key player back from the injured list on Monday, although its virtually too late for their playoff chances.The Washington Nationals (88-61) are also trying to get healthy.But the big difference is that the National League East-leading Nationals, who open a three-game series at Marlins Park on Monday, are a sure-fire playoff club and the health status of their players truly matters.Key among those players is right-hander Stephen Strasburg (15-4, 3.60 ERA), who has been out with an elbow injury he suffered on Sept. 7. Strasburg tossed a ball -- lightly -- this weekend for the first time since he got hurt.Strasburg, who has already tied a career high this season with his 15 wins, is needed at the top of the rotation if the Nationals can realistically be expected to make a postseason run.The 28-year-old Strasburg has a 1.10 WHIP, and batters are hitting just .218 against him.While waiting for Strasburg, the Nationals got good news on Sunday when right-hander Joe Ross came off the disabled list.The 23-year-old Ross, who hadnt pitched since July 2 because of a shoulder injury, allowed five hits and one run in three innings against the Atlanta Braves on Sunday. He struck out five.Hes sort of on a spring training schedule right now, Nationals manager Dusty Baker told media members in Atlanta. Lets see how his arm feels before we increase his workload.While Strasburg recuperates and Ross works on getting extended, Washington will start right-hander A.J. Cole (1-2, 4.71) at Miami. It will be his first career start against the Marlins.As for the Marlins (74-75), left-hander Wei-Yin Chen (5-4, 4.99) is set to return off the disabled list to start Mondays game. This will be Chens first appearance since July 20 when he sprained his left elbow.Chen, who replaces rookie Jake Esch in the rotation and moves ace Jose Fernandez back one extra day, will likely be restricted by a pitch count, somewhere around 80.Meanwhile, Marlins right fielder Giancarlo Stanton, who suffered a severe groin injury on Aug. 13, returned as a pinch hitter on Sept. 6. On Friday at the Philadelphia Phillies, he played the field for the first time since his injury.Stanton is expected to be back as a starter on Monday as the Marlins are being careful not to overwork him.In Fridays game, he batted second in the order for the first time since 2008, when he played for Class A Greensboro.The reason he hit second was that Marlins manager Don Mattingly, who restricted Stanton to six innings in what became a 4-3 loss in 13 innings, wanted his slugger to get as many at-bats as possible while he was out there.Stanton went 0-for-2 with two walks and a run scored before being replaced by Ichiro Suzuki.Were not out of it, Stanton told media members in Philadelphia this past weekend when asked about the playoff race. Its not going to be easy, but the opportunity is there. As long as I can help, thats what Im here for.Despite Stantons claims, the Marlins were officially eliminated from NL East title contention on Saturday, and their chances of securing a wild-card playoff berth are less than one percent, according to projections.In other storylines:-- Nationals rookie center fielder Trea Turner, a converted shortstop who was the San Diego Padres first-round pick in 2014, continues to be on a remarkable roll.On Saturday, he became the first player in franchise history to post four hits, two steals and score four runs in one game. He is hitting .355 for the season.-- Nationals star right fielder Bryce Harper, a four-time All-Star and an NL MVP last year, had been hitless in his past 17 at-bats before getting a single in his final at-bat on Sunday. He is batting .243 this season.-- The Marlins probably regret not trading for Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Jeremy Hellickson when they had the chance -- according to reports -- at the deadline in July. Hellickson beat the Marlins with a three-hit shutout on Saturday and is 3-1 with a 2.01 ERA in six starts against Miami this season.Instead of Hellickson, the Marlins traded away their top hitting prospect and a possible future closer to get right-hander Andrew Cashner, who has been a disaster with Miami. He has a 5.27 ERA this season and lasted just four innings on Sunday, allowing three runs.Hellickson, who is 12-9 this year with a 3.57 ERA, is a free agent after this season. Perhaps the Marlins can acquire him this winter to make up for their non-move on him in July. Custom Grizzlies T-shirts . Zvonareva, who won the tournament in 2009 and 10, couldnt handle her opponents big groundstrokes in only her third event back after 17 months out with a shoulder injury. Zvonareva made her comeback in January in Shenzhen and played in the Australian Open but lost her first matches at both tournaments. Custom Allen Iverson Jersey .C. -- Rodney Hood connected from all over the court while freshman Jabari Parker was busy swatting shots and scoring in transition. http://www.customgrizzliesjersey.com/ . The Islanders dealt Thomas Vanek to the Montreal Canadiens after less than a year on Long Island. Meanwhile, the Oilers dealt long-time sniper Ales hemsky to the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday for a fifth-round pick in 2014 and a third-rounder in 2015. Cheap Custom Grizzlies Jersey .com) - Manchester City midfielder David Silva is expected to miss the next four weeks because of a calf problem. Cheap Grizzlies Jerseys . -- San Francisco 49ers linebacker Ahmad Brooks was fined $15,570 by the NFL on Wednesday for his hit on Saints quarterback Drew Brees last Sunday. Its a glorious early morning on the Atlantic coastline of Florida route A1A. Cruise ships are out in the distance, swimmers and surfers are beginning to populate the waters, and beachgoers lounging around in the sand looking to get a good tan.On the opposite side of the street, two cricket administrators are having a casual morning coffee, looking fairly relaxed despite the historic event they are overseeing.Its a fun few days coming up, but a serious few days as well Caribbean Premier League chairman Richard Bevan tells ESPNcricinfo. Its not just about turning up and playing a bit of cricket on some grass. Its about serious progression.This is the first professional tournament being played in America. Cricket has come and gone in America going back to the 1750s, but for the CPL being the first professional tournament, its a very serious business.A seven-mile drive west from Fort Lauderdale Beach along Sunrise Boulevard lies the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill where the CPL will be staging six games over four days this weekend. As the first overseas franchise league to attempt to stage matches in America, the historic nature of the event isnt lost on Bevan or his colleague Tom Moody, the CPLs international director of cricket, as the league tries to make a splash in Florida, and more broadly to the country as a whole.We want six entertaining games, we want to bring the biggest party in sport and introduce it to a market thats got a taste for cricket, Moody says. But we want to give them more than a taste. We want to give them a full meal.If we continue to repeat what weve been doing over the last few weeks in the Caribbean here in Lauderhill, it will be a win because we know that whether people have been introduced to the game before or its their very first taste of the game, itll be something thatll intrigue them and theyll want to have another go at it and another opportunity to see it. Thats what its all about, for us to help promote the game of cricket in a new market.When it comes to providing a taste of cricket, the approach used most often by previous organisers who have come to America to stage high-profile events has been to give a man a fish so he can eat for a day rather than teach a man to fish so he can eat for life. Little impact is made in the immediate community and the event comes off looking like a cash-grab, cookie-cutter experience indistinguishable from any match that can just as easily take place in another neutral venue, like Dubai. Moody says that is the last thing the CPL wants to be seen to be doing, especially in the US market.For the first four years of the CPLs journey, certainly from my standpoint, its not been a grab-and-run operation, Moody says. Its been about what can we do to develop the game in the Caribbean. Its always been looking at how can we improve cricket, how can we develop the game, how can we leave a legacy, how can this be seen in ten years time. Its not like a circus that comes to town and then leaves town and leaves nothing.I think its a credit to the board of the CPL that their view has always been what can we leave behind and how can we continue to develop the game. I think the philosophy thats been carried out in the Caribbean has just been transferred to whats been happening here in Florida. Its a responsibility as were guardians of the game, for us to make sure that we can leave this place richer with regards to the experience of the game of cricket so when we come back again, weve got more people engaged, more people educated, more people wanting to play a role in the game of cricket.To ensure that CPLs first tournament leg in Florida isnt their last, a meticulous plan has been executed to ensure a successful foundation is laid for a return visit. That began with a mandate to have six players from the ICC Americas region - one for each franchise - taken in the CPL draft. It resulted in three Americans - Steven Taylor, Timroy Allen and Ali Khan - being given CPL coontracts.ddddddddddddTaylor and Samuel Badree appeared at a Miami Marlins baseball game last month to throw out the ceremonial first pitch and give some promotional exposure to the CPL. Jamaica Tallawahs, the first team to arrive in Florida a full week before the first match in Lauderhill, have been leading the charge with regular kids clinics at the stadium and other teams have followed suit. The CPL in conjunction with the ICC Americas staff has held a series of clinics and seminars for coaches and umpires throughout the region. Moody spent 10 hours on Tuesday working with local coaches on the philosophies of the game and there was a presentation given by Kumar Sangakkara. Among those attending the seminar to improve their coaching skills were former Nepal coach Pubudu Dassanayake, now based in Canada, and former West Indies batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who lives in Orlando and is looking to get more involved with coaching locally.Initiatives are also in place at the high performance level. USAs 30-man national squad arrived on Wednesday night and on Thursday they are participating in a fielding masterclass session led by Trevor Penney. On Friday, a USA XI will play a combined CPL XI in an exhibition curtain-raiser T20 ahead of that nights match between the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots and Trinbago Knight Riders. The USA players will also be interspersed among the six CPL teams to help them get a taste of professional environment with the help of team meetings, warm-ups and being in the dugouts.I think weve shown that over the past couple of days with the initiatives that the CPL has been embracing with regards to school visits, coaching clinics, a big day with a coaching seminar that I ran with [ICC Americas consultant] Tom Evans which from all accounts was a great success, that type of exposure and experience theyve probably never had before, Moody says.You take away just small things like that and the value of those types of things. Were running a fielding masterclass with all the top coaches along with the USA team. So theyll be right at their fingertips of getting some world-class experiences both in a lecture theater and also on the field of play. Weve got the game against the CPL XI versus the USA. So theres many many different layers to us trying to build a stronger relationship and a stronger foundation to help launch cricket to go to the next stage.CPL officials have earlier made statements that they view matches in Florida as a gateway to a bigger US market opportunity in New York, and perhaps extending even further north across the border into Toronto. There have also been discussions held by officials planning to make a visit to Texas to investigate the possibility of staging matches at a new private facility outside of Houston.Such plans may be cause for concern for Lauderhill officials, particularly after the USAs only ICC-certified ODI stadium was snubbed last year by the Cricket All-Stars tour, which opted to play in baseball stadiums with drop-in pitches in New York, Houston and Los Angeles. While Bevan acknowledges other destinations may be a possibility, he says the CPL is committed to making Florida a staple of their annual calendar.Its not just the CPL. Its the CPL, the WICB, the ICC looking out where we can best help grow the game, Bevan says. If the United States cricket authorities and the ICC say wed also like you to grow the game in New York and California, then if we can do that from a growth perspective, fine. But we are here in Florida. We are looking to be based with this tournament here for a long period of time and to grow the game here. So the commitment is an obvious one.I think well also see more Americans playing the game. The legacy is going to be really important, from repairing 20 sprinkler heads at the ground to finding more Steven Taylors playing the game. ' ' '