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ST. LOUIS -- Two of the heavyweights of the National League meet on Sunday Night Baseball, when the Los Angeles Dodgers visit the St. Louis Cardinals, but neither team is working at full strength -- far from it. The Dodgers pitching rotation is in tatters, and the Cardinals infield looks nothing like it did a month ago.Its all about surviving for both teams, which remain squarely in the playoff hunt, until they get some of their key players back. Lets do a comparison and decide who is hurting more at each position group. Dont miss your chance to vote on each teams injury situation below.RotationLos Angeles Dodgers: Injuries have the Dodgers down to four active starters, but they are hanging in there since Clayton Kershaws back injury nearly a month ago. Brandon McCarthy has been solid since he came off the DL, and Kenta Maeda has been steady all year. But surviving much longer without Kershaw will be tough. Dodgers starters entered this series in St. Louis with a .246 opponents batting average, third in the NL, since Kershaw most recently appeared in a game.St. Louis Cardinals: Some Cardinals fans have taken to calling it the Immaculate Rotation. It will be no more on Sunday. The Cardinals had to scramble for a spot starter when their Tuesday night game with the San Diego Padres was rained out, forcing a Wednesday doubleheader. They came up with reliever Tyler Lyons, who will be just the sixth pitcher to start a game for the Cardinals this season. The Cardinals were the last team to have used just five starters this season. The Chicago Cubs shared the distinction until they tapped Adam Warren on July 6.The Cardinals lost starter Lance Lynn to Tommy John surgery in the offseason, but they had time to react and added free-agent right-hander Mike Leake on a five-year, $80 million deal. Otherwise, they have avoided any injuries to their rotation, which has improved as the season has gone on.BullpenDodgers: The latest setup man behind closer Kenley Jansen is lefty Adam Liberatore. It might seem that this group cant get its bearings, but the Dodgers bullpen is a strength of the team and one of the biggest reasons the club has been able to stay afloat without Kershaw. Liberatore has recorded 28 consecutive scoreless appearances, and as of Friday, the Dodgers 2.99 bullpen ERA was second in baseball.Cardinals: The Cardinals thought they would have both Jordan Walden and Mitch Harris available to them this spring, but neither has thrown a pitch this season. Harris underwent elbow surgery, and Walden remains sidelined with a shoulder injury that could end his career. Otherwise, the Cardinals bullpen has been relatively stout. Kevin Siegrist missed time over the All-Star break because of mononucleosis, but he is back and pitching as well as any Cardinals reliever.InfieldDodgers: Rookie shortstop Corey Seager has carried the Dodgers offensively as if he were a veteran, and he is playing better-than-expected defense as well. Third baseman Justin Turner started slowly after offseason knee surgery but has been a monster lately. Heading into play Friday, his 13 home runs since June 10 led the NL, as did his 35 RBIs. Second baseman Chase Utley has turned back the clock with steady play at second base and has been the Dodgers primary leadoff man, a spot he did not occupy regularly until this season. First baseman Adrian Gonzalez has traded spurts of key production with some deep slumps.Cardinals: The Cardinals infield has been in constant flux this season. Part of that is due to the meteoric rise of All-Star shortstop Aledmys Diaz, whose arrival forced position switches for Jhonny Peralta and Matt Carpenter. But lately it has been due to injuries. Carpenter (oblique strain), who might be the most underrated player in the game, and starting third baseman Peralta (left thumb strain) arent expected back for weeks, which opens opportunities for players such as Jedd Gyorko, Kolten Wong and Greg Garcia. The Cardinals most powerful left-handed hitter, Brandon Moss, who splits his time between first base and outfield, is out with an ankle injury for about another week. The Cardinals are treading water, but eventually they will feel the loss of their key infielders, especially Carpenter.OutfieldDodgers: Expected to be the Dodgers deepest position, the outfield has seen nothing but injuries, starting with Andre Ethier in spring training, when he broke his leg; he has yet to return. Carl Crawford was injured early and then released. Joc Pederson is just coming off the disabled list after a shoulder injury, and early rookie sensation Trayce Thompson started out hot, cooled considerably and then went to the DL with a bad back. Yasiel Puig has dealt with hamstring trouble.?Scott Van Slyke lost a month to a bad back. The steadiest outfielder isnt even an outfielder. Howie Kendrick not only has been playing a steady left field but also extended his hit streak to 14 games Friday and has been one of the best hitters in baseball this month.Cardinals: Underperformance from Randal Grichuk has been the larger issue, but Moss lack of availability has opened the door for Tommy Pham, who missed a month earlier with an injury similar to Carpenters. Moss is a better outfielder than you might expect, given his lack of speed, but the Cardinals miss his bat a lot more than they miss his glove. Thanks to steady production from Stephen Piscotty and adequate power from Matt Holliday, the Cardinals have been in pretty good shape in the outfield.CatcherDodgers: Yasmani Grandal is finally starting to look healthy after offseason shoulder surgery. In July, he has reached base safely in 13 of the 15 games in which he has played. At the start of the series, his 13 home runs were tied for the most by a big league catcher and he was seventh in slugging percentage, at .434. Grandals productive play has cut into the playing time of A.J. Ellis, who has caught 11 Kershaw starts this season but only 26 by all other starters combined.Cardinals: The Cardinals thought they had figured out a way to get Yadier Molina more rest when they signed veteran backup Brayan Pena to a two-year, $5 million deal over the winter. It hasnt worked out as planned. Pena injured his knee slipping on a wet dugout step in spring training and has been limited to four games played. As a consequence, Molina has started 83 of the Cardinals 96 games, an absurd total for a catcher in todays game. Pena remains in Florida and is considered weeks away from returning, but its hard to imagine manager Mike Matheny suddenly trusting journeyman minor leaguer Alberto Rosario to spell Molina on a regular basis.BenchDodgers: By carrying eight relievers for most of the season, the Dodgers bench has been short but busy because of the injuries all over the roster. Thompson found his way off the bench to start for a stretch that lasted more than a month. Van Slyke is starting to get more time now. Infielder Chris Taylor has delivered in limited playing time since being acquired in a trade with the Seattle Mariners. Because there are fewer bodies on the Dodgers bench, all reserves have defensive versatility. Kendrick and Van Slyke can play both infield and outfield. New arrival Austin Barnes can catch and has played some second base too.Cardinals: The Cardinals had one of the deepest, most powerful benches in baseball when their regulars were healthy. Now, with Garcia, Gyorko and Matt Adams starting most nights, Matheny has few palatable options at his disposal to pinch hit or play defense late. Jeremy Hazelbaker, Grichuk and Pham got tickets out of Triple-A because of the injuries, but only Pham has given the Cardinals much production. The power has disappeared from Mathenys bench, which means his late-game decisions often dont look as smart. Moss and Adams have proven to be devastating pinch hitters this season, but neither is available for that role at the moment. Fake Air Max 97 . The Oilers come in having lost five in a row (0-4-1) and 16 of their last 20 games, dropping a 2-1 decision to the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday. Cheapest Yeezy 700 .Y. -- The Buffalo Sabres have placed centre Cody Hodgson on injured reserve and recalled two players from their AHL affiliate in Rochester. http://www.cheapestairmaxstore.com/fake-air-force-1-cheap.html . -- Washington Redskins tight end Fred Davis was charged Thursday with driving while intoxicated, a day after he was suspended for an NFL substance-abuse policy violation. Cheapest Air Max Tn . Laudrup revealed Thursday he was notified of his dismissal in "the briefest of letters which gave no reasons why such hasty and final action was deemed necessary. Air Force 1 Store . A statement from the worlds top-ranked player says all checks "were satisfactory and showed positive evolution" regarding the injury, which contributed to his loss to Stanislas Wawrinka in the final in Melbourne. Its an exciting time for Formula One, with new owners Liberty Media outlining a bold new vision for the sport. Though some seem worried about the new owners Americanising F1, ESPN looks not at what F1 can do for the U.S. but what the U.S. can do for F1.Game PassF1s viewing audience -- both at live races and those watching broadcasts -- is dwindling. There are many reasons for this, but the falling TV audience is largely down to the slow shift away from free-to-air TV. In Britain, Sky Sports recently announced it will have the exclusive rights for F1 from 2019 onwards -- meaning British fans will only be able to watch live races behind a paywall from that point. That will align the UK with Spain and France, which follow the same model, and is likely to be replicated elsewhere in Europe -- which accounts for around 60 percent of F1s current audience. There are many solutions to this, and one of them might be across the pond.The NFL and NBA are exemplary in taking their sport to the fan, rather than making the fan come to them. NFLs Game Pass costs ￡139.99 but guarantees you every second of every game (including the play-offs and the Super Bowl), interview, training session, documentaries and pretty much any NFL game to have happened in the last 10 years. Compare that to the hefty amount to pay for Sky in the UK, for example, which spends much of its time between races (and even during race weekends) showing re-runs of this years races or old interviews. Fans have no say what content is on but with Game Pass you watch what you want, when you want, and theres plenty of it. The model is replicated by the NBA -- a quick comparison between the NFL/NBA and F1 websites show the glaring difference the latter needs to address.To its credit, F1s recent social media input has been much-improved but the sport has seemed scared of embracing the very fans it is also confused about losing in such big numbers. American sports are all about taking themselves to the phone or laptop of the viewer rather than expecting fans to pay a lot of money for a limited amount of third-party content -- its about time F1 started doing the same.Color RushF1 should be the pinnacle of cool in sport. Its fast cars and beautiful people at glamorous locations but in recent years this seems to have been lost somewhat. Just look at the state of modern-day car launches compared to the ones of old. Nothing says sexy quite like a press release with renderings of your new car, does it? F1 appears to have gone backwards in recent years on that front. The NFL is one sport willing to think outside the box. Color -- or should that be colour? -- Rush is one example. The idea is simple -- teams wear match-up specific uniforms which are garish, alternate versions of their usual kits. Each team now has a kit for this purpose, giving the NFL perfect social media fodder and plenty of viral opportunities. Ditto to the throwback jerseys, which will see a team pick one week to wear a kit from a previous season in the NFL.? Imagine this in F1.A Mercedes running the inverted colours for Malaysia, with the green of sponsors Petronas for its home race, or Ferrari running a throwback livery for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, or McLaren-Honda going red and white for the Japanese Grand Prix. The latter two, especially, would create enormous hype and attention. In the modern age of social media, this is what fans want to see. Red Bulls camouflaged livery for winter testing last year is a good example -- an image that probably reached a lot of people who didnt even know that testing was taking place in Barcelona that week or otherwise have no interest in F1.This idea would also help the problem F1 seems to have recently of bland, unappealing liveries. Four of the teams run predominantly grey/black schemes which just do not look great on the race track. Haas is one of them. The teams sponsors are likely to get a fair amount of exposure in Austin this year but how much more would they get -- especially in America -- if they unveiled an unashamedly over-the-top star-spangled livery for that event? It may sound incredibly simple, but sometimes the key to winning fans over is getting them to say Wow, thats cool. And funky liveries are much cooler to the casual fan than an MGU-H, new brake duct or a 60-place grid penalty...A lotteryOne thing which keeps sports like the NFL and NBA so enjoyable is their changeable nature every year, with the Draft and Draft Lottery acting as a great leveller season on season. Now this isnt something that can be replicated for drivers in F1 but the idea could be used elsewherre -- for example, in shaking up the calendar.dddddddddddd As Kate Walker has suggested on ESPN before, F1 should consider a lottery draft for places on the calendar. If the season is going to keep getting longer, then why shouldnt it look different every year?For example, imagine not knowing where five of 2017s races will be until December. To make the end-of-season trophy presentation actually mean something other than a black tie event for a handful of guests, this would be a perfect time to hold a draw. Much like the Champions League, the season champion could pick names out of a hat to hold the races which have put themselves forward as candidates. Imagine 2017s European Grand Prix at Magny-Cours, or an African Grand Prix at Kyalami, or a second U.S. Grand Prix at Dallas, Laguna Seca or Long Beach, assuming all were brought up to FIA standards, of course.Variation keeps sport interesting and this is something American sports are constantly reinvigorated by. Its a win-win -- old circuits get to pay for a one-off race, while fans get the chance to see F1 at new circuits and drivers get to visit circuits theyve never been to before. Each season looks vastly different as a result. Baku was a special event this year, ditto Mexico last year, but the gloss and interest of new events can be quick to wear off if fan numbers drop off in the following years.An event away from the eventTheres been a lot of talk about spicing up the whole format of the current F1 weekend. Theres a lot that can change, but how about something that actually doesnt have any ramification on the season? The NBA holds an annual Slam Dunk Contest for players which now crowns an annual champion. It has no bearing on the season as a whole but is popular with fans, and did include fan voting to determine the winner until several years ago. It gives players additional bragging rights and gives lesser-known players a chance to create superstar status but, most importantly of all, it gives people another reason to watch other than who might win on Sunday -- especially if that question has only two probable answers...F1 seems like the perfect place for this kind of competition. Last year Christian Horner suggested the revival of the Procar series, which saw F1 drivers race against each other in one-make machinery at grand prix weekends. This lends itself to celebrity drivers, or drivers from other series, pitting themselves against one another in equal machinery for what ostensibly would be competition with a bit of fun added to it as well. Imagine Lewis Hamilton going up against Jeff Gordon and Tom Kristensen, for example, or Mika Hakkinen rolling back the years to take on Kimi Raikkonen as part of a ten-lap sprint race. You know youd watch it. If an idea is exciting to think about, then fans are going to want to watch it and thats something F1 cannot say about the current product.Americas GameF1 has an incredible history -- a mix of tragedy, bravery, legendary drives and quirky characters. The job of F1 should be to tell this story to the masses, rather than relying on individual television channels to do so. Again, America is great at doing this. I will use NFL as an example. The excellent A Football Life documentaries follow retired players and coaches and tell their life story, using footage of their career and interviews with friends, colleagues and family. This is often available in the Game Pass mentioned above and is perfect for filling a weekend without NFL -- think of all those quiet F1 weekends or summer breaks you could be spending watching a historic F1 race or documentary of your choosing at the click of a button. It doesnt just have to be old history, either.The NFL also runs a documentary called Americas Game at the start of each season, telling the story of the Super Bowl winners campaign through the eyes of three key people. The Hard Knocks series is also excellent - following a team through training camp ahead of the season. Its an intimate story of a team and, though F1 teams would understandably be worried about revealing potentially secretive information to rivals, a documentary series following that seasons championship contenders would be perfect material for the end of a season or the start of the next one. It could then be used by F1 to justify the cost of something like Game Pass, and give fans more reasons to pay to watch just F1 rather than opting against purchasing a channel just to see racing once every two weeks. ' ' '