TORONTO -- Toronto FC will end its seven-year post-season drought and make the Major League Soccer playoffs next season, MLSE CEO Tim Leiweke promised Tuesday. Tyson Jost Jersey . The underachieving franchise finished 17th in the 19-team league with a 6-17-11 record this season. "Our soccer team is absolutely in complete disarray," said Leiweke, drawing laughs during an Empire Club luncheon speech about the future of MLSE teams and plans to improve them. But the Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment boss said change is coming. "The team we turn the quickest will be TFC and well turn them next year," he said. "Mark it down, write it down, film it .... Were going to turn TFC around and were going to make the playoffs next year. We know where were headed, we know how to get there. Weve been given the resources of this ownership group and we will get to the right place." Leiweke, who brought David Beckham to the Los Angeles Galaxy, says he knows how to work the designated player rules in the league. The soccer team has money to add designated players and still have about a third of its salary cap to sign two or three veteran MLS players. In detailing the MLSE clubs and their chances of success, he pointed to the hockey club first. "The Leafs are close," he said. Like the New York Yankees are to baseball and the Dallas Cowboys to football, the Leafs must become "the greatest hockey team in the history of the National Hockey League." "Toronto is the heart and soul of the great game of hockey," he said. Leiweke made headlines after taking over in July when he said he already had a championship parade route in his mind for the Leafs. He did not back down from that Tuesday. "I could not be more excited about the parade route and were going to throw you one, I promise," he said. Championships, he said are "not an unreasonable expectation," at MLSE. Leiweke ruffled feathers early in his tenure when he suggested some of the photos of past Leafs greats should be taken down at the Air Canada Centre. "No disrespect to the history and tradition of the 100 years of the Toronto Maple Leafs or any of the great players that have put on that jersey," he said Tuesday. "But these players know its now time to put their pictures up on the wall. Its time for us to hang Stanley Cup banners." As for the Raptors, he said it was tough to build an NBA team on the fly because of salary cap restrictions. Luck and skill are needed in drafting players, plus intelligence in signing other players. "To be honest with you, we havent done that here. And Im not blaming anybody. Now the blames on us." He dismissed the belief that NBA players dont want to come to Toronto. And he said the current roster is "ticked off" that some pundits are already writing them off. "Theyre out to prove something this year," he said of the Raptors, who open their season Wednesday. Build a winning culture and players will come to Toronto, he added. On other matters, Leiweke said: -- The chances of an NFL team coming to Toronto in the next decade are "pretty good." -- Given 17 of 19 Toronto FC games were played in rain at BMO Field this season, "weve got to put an end to that, its time to put a roof on BMO Field." -- At the requests of the city of Toronto, which owns BMO Field, MLSE is looking at whether the venue can be changed to accommodate the CFL. "The Argos are part of a conversation, not a decision thats been made." -- MLSE is looking at whether a larger block of tickets should be freed up to get some new Leafs fans in the ACC to make the venue livelier. -- The NHL needs to put hockey in the Seattle-Portland marketplace, as well as returning a team in Quebec. And that such expansion -- as well as possibly in Las Vegas and Kansas City -- is needed to grow the sport before talk of a second franchise in the Toronto area. Blake Comeau Jersey . - Diego Fagundez scored his team-leading 13th goal of the season in the 76th minute to lift the Revolution to a 3-2 victory over the Columbus Crew on Saturday night that kept New Englands playoff hopes alive. Joe Colborne Jersey . Vonn had another scary moment at Saturdays World Cup downhill in Val dIsere, ending up clutching her knee in pain after losing her balance and missing a gate. But she gave a reassuring answer shortly afterward, saying no new damage had been done to the surgically repaired knee, and that her plans for the Sochi Olympics were still intact. PITTSBURGH -- Russell Martin has played long enough to realize that games in early June are rarely pivotal. Yet the Pirates veteran catcher admitted that Friday nights win felt good as Pittsburgh tries to stay with striking distance of the first-place Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central. Martin had three hits, including a three-run double during an eight-run sixth inning, and the Pirates rolled to a 15-5 victory over the Brewers, handing nemesis Kyle Lohse his first loss since April 1. The Pirates still trail the Brewers by six games, primarily because they have gone 3-8 against Milwaukee this season. The win was Pittsburghs sixth in its last eight games. "Anytime in the season where you can just feed off each other like that, its going to be a fun time," Martin said. "Especially against a team that were trailing right now. If you can beat up on a good team, it definitely does give you confidence." Martins double keyed an inning that increased Pittsburghs lead to 13-3 and included Jose Tabata hitting two RBI singles and reliever Tyler Thornburg issuing two bases-loaded walks. The Pirates sent 13 batters to the plate. "We were able to barrel some balls and we took some walks," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. "The hits were nice, the walks were kind of runaway walks. Not many pitches were close in the walk sequence, it is what it is." Lohse (7-2) had won seven consecutive decisions, the longest active streak in the major leagues, but was tagged for eight runs and nine hits in five-plus innings. He had won his last six decisions against the Pirates, dating to 2011, and pitched a three-hit shutout against the Chicago Cubs five days earlier. "I could go inning by inning about everything that went wrong but it was just one of those games where they hit good pitches and they hit bad pitches," Lohse said. "The best thing to do is forget about it and get ready for the nextt one. Adam Foote Jersey. Thats the approach I took after I threw the shutout and thats the approach this time." Rookie Brandon Cumpton (1-2) allowed three runs in 5 1-3 innings after giving up 11 runs -- the most by a major league pitcher this season -- in 3 2-3 innings in losing his previous start at the Los Angeles Dodgers last Saturday. "I really just put my head down and got back to work after that last start," Cumpton said. "I was just trusting my stuff and know its going to be there. It was great to get out there and get back on the horse." Andrew McCutchen homered and doubled for the Pirates while Jordy Mercer homered and hit an RBI single. Carlos Gomez, Aramis Ramirez and Scooter Gennett all had two hits for the Brewers. McCutchen doubled in a run and scored on Martins single in the first inning as the Pirates jumped on Lohse early. McCutchens seventh homer, a solo shot in the third, made it 3-0. NOTES: Pittsburgh LF Starling Marte, who is hitless in his last 20 at-bats, did not start for a third straight game. Tabata took his place for a second straight game. ... Milwaukee LHP Tom Gorzelanny, who is rehabbing from off-season shoulder surgery, pitched 2 1-3 scoreless innings for Triple-A Nashville on Friday night against Memphis in a PCL game. Though he has allowed two runs in 14 innings in nine games, Gorzelanny likely wont be ready to be activated from the DL when his 30-day rehab assignment ends next Friday. ... Pirates RHP Stolmy Pimentel, who is on the DL with right shoulder inflammation, pitched three scoreless innings in a rehab start for Double-A Altoona against Trenton in the Eastern League. ... RHP Vin Mazzaro accepted an outright assignment by Pittsburgh to Triple-A Indianapolis after clearing waivers. He was designated for assignment May 26. ... Brewers RHP Matt Garza (3-4, 4.42) faces RHP Edinson Volquez (3-4, 4.25) on Saturday. Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys ' ' '