Six years after supposedly closing the books on its “steroid era”, baseball is embroiled in a new drug scandal that has already felled one of its top stars, and could end the career of Alex Rodriguez, its highest-paid player.

Roberto Martinez is a fan of football analytics, the science of compiling and analysing the rapidly increasing plethora of data on every aspect of the game. He subscribes to a sophisticated software package, yet one is entitled to ask just how much use this is, given that under the Spaniard's charge Wigan have just been relegated.

He's big and round, in a good way

Lavonne "Pepper" Paire-Davis, who died on 2 February aged 88, was a star of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League in the 1940s and an inspiration for the film A League Of Their Own. Paire-Davis was a model for the character played by Geena Davis and served as a consultant on the 1992 film.

The seventh-inning stretch was minutes away, but the crowd at the Busch Stadium had itchy feet. Throughout, spectators had been filing to and from the hotdog stands, or making come-hither gestures to the peanut vendor. Everyone was distracted.

They don't have the big names, a Triple Crown winner or a $200m-plus slugger. But for the second time in three years the San Francisco Giants rule baseball, clinically completing a four game sweep of the Detroit Tigers to win one of the most lopsided World Series in recent years.

The comeback team against the would-be comeback city. Such is the 2012 World Series which opens tonight in what is probably the major leagues' most beautiful ballpark, where Barry Bonds used to lash his steroid-fuelled home runs into San Francisco Bay.

Owner John Henry says Liverpool face a huge financial challenge to compete with the very best as the Premier League side continues to pay the price for the failings of the previous regime.

Washington National's bat out of hell Bryce Harper on track to have best season by teenager in a century

Liverpool will begin their pre-season tour of North America with a friendly against the Major League Soccer side Toronto FC on 21 July. The match will take place at the 47,000-capacity Rogers Centre, home of the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team.

The history of Boston Red Sox's famous 100-year-old home stretches far beyond bats and Babe Ruth, says Brian Viner

As the new season begins, there has been a power shift from the East Coast, with TV deals, star names and big bucks going to LA

A group spear-headed by former basketball great Earvin "Magic" Johnson agreed to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team for a record $2bn, team owner Frank McCourt announced yesterday, capping a two-year drama that started with McCourt's divorce and wound its way through bankruptcy court.

Albert Pujols, widely regarded as the best player in baseball, has joined the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on a 10-year contract reported to be worth $250m (around £160m).