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).

The Last Word

The St. Louis Cardinals completed their magical comeback season by beating the Texas Rangers 6-2 in a deciding Game Seven to clinch the World Series last night.

Wednesday's deciding game was a sad and anticlimactic finale for home fans at the 40-year-old Busch Stadium, now due for instant demolition to make way for a retro-style ballpark that will be up and running in 2006.

La Russa, by common consent, is the smartest manager in baseball - and certainly the only one with a law degree. With the Chicago White Sox, Oakland and now St Louis, he has won more regular season games than all but two managers in the history of the game. His scowling yet cerebral presence in the Cardinals' dug-out, as he pores over arcane statistical charts, is as much a part of the team's image as the red birds on its uniforms.