The NFL is coming. The NHL and NBA have already been and gone. So where is Major League Baseball?

This month the O2 Arena in London hosted regular-season ice hockey and a basketball friendly. In two weeks, the New York Giants and Miami Dolphins will do battle at Wembley. The UK’s capital has become a key target as the leading American sports seek to expand their brands into Europe.

Baseball, though, is nowhere to be seen, despite its avowed enthusiasm for promoting the sport internationally. MLB staged a photo-shoot at the Brit Oval with Sammy Sosa a couple of years ago, but despite discussions between Oval and MLB officials about staging Opening Day at the cricket ground in south London, the plans appear to have stalled.

An MLB source told Times Online that there is concern that London cannot provide a venue suitable for hosting a regular-season game. The Oval is the only likely candidate to be turned into a temporary “ballpark” (Lord’s being deeply traditional). It has hosted baseball before - albeit in the nineteenth century.

But MLB has identified logistical problems, which include the placing and construction of the outfield wall and the creation of an infield – which would damage the grass. While the sums may not add up because of the stadium’s size. The Oval’s capacity is only 23,000 and an outfield wall would block the view from many seats.

Rome appears to have moved into pole position ahead of the UK if MLB decides to hold a regular-season game in Europe. MLB’s European Academy is in Italy, there are obvious weather advantages and their domestic league, which is semi-professional, is far more popular than its UK counterpart. What Italy lacks is a large ballpark, but there are plans to build one.

London might regain the initiative if baseball is back on the Olympic programme for the 2012 Games. Baseball and softball were voted out by the International Olympic Committee after the 2008 Games but the International Baseball Federation is talking to the IOC with a view to getting that decision reversed. Baseball in London for 2012 could provide the momentum needed to make MLB in the capital a reality.

Meanwhile, 5,000 miles from London, the Colorado Rockies won their eighteenth game in the past nineteen to take Game One of their best-of-seven National League Championship series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Colorado’s 5-1 win in Phoenix owed much to good pitching from Jeff Francis. There was an eight-minute delay as fans upset by an umpire’s decision threw objects on to the field. The second game is tonight.

The Boston Red Sox meet the Cleveland Indians in the opening match of the American League Championship Series this evening. Cleveland knocked out the New York Yankees in the previous round. The Yankees’ hierarchy will discuss the future of their veteran manager, Joe Torre, next week. Tony La Russa, the St Louis Cardinals manager, has been linked with the job.