The Chicago Bulls upstaged LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, and league MVP Stephen Curry got his new campaign off to an emphatic start as the 2015-16 NBA season got under way.

With President Barack Obama among a delighted Chicago crowd, the Bulls toppled the Cavaliers 97-95 on Tuesday in a thrilling opening night duel.

Eric Hosmer drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly in the 14th inning to give Kansas City a 5-4 win over the New York Mets in Tuesday's emotional opener of the 111th World Series.

An intense Major League Baseball thriller featured the first inside the park World Series home run in 86 years by Kansas City's Alcides Escobar and Royals starting pitcher Edinson Volquez reportedly grieving the death of his father hours earlier.

Bayern Munich eased into the third round of the German Cup on Tuesday with a 3-1 win at holders VfL Wolfsburg as Germany forward Thomas Mueller scored twice.

It was 5-1 when the teams last met four weeks ago after Robert Lewandowski scored all five goals in just nine second half minutes of the Bundesliga rout, but Mueller was Wolfsburg's primary tormentor on this occasion.

Eden Hazard squandered the decisive penalty as Stoke City exacerbated Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho's misery with victory in the League Cup on Tuesday, while second-tier Sheffield Wednesday stunned Arsenal 3-0.

After Jon Walters put Stoke ahead with a fine 20-yard shot at the Britannia Stadium, Chelsea substitute Loic Remy, on for the injured Diego Costa, lashed home an injury-time equalizer to make the score 1-1.

Chelsea striker Diego Costa was taken to hospital after sustaining a rib injury during the League Cup holders' penalty shootout defeat at Stoke City on Tuesday, manager Jose Mourinho said.

The Brazil-born Spain striker appeared to hurt himself in a collision with Stoke goalkeeper Jack Butland and after initially playing on, he went off in the 33rd minute, with Loic Remy taking his place.

The Socceroos received a boost Wednesday with captain Mile Jedinak and goalkeeper Mat Ryan declared fit for Australia's World Cup qualifiers against Kyrgyzstan and Bangladesh next month.

Neither have been able to play for their country since the opening game of qualifying in June and their return gives coach Ange Postecoglou added firepower for the matches in Canberra on November 12 and Dhaka on November 17.

Liverpool's Anfield stadium was reopened on Tuesday following a security alert sparked by the reported disappearance of a man on a stadium tour, the Premier League club said.

The stadium was evacuated after the club reported that a man had gone missing from a tour group visiting the stadium, which led to a police operation that lasted several hours.

Inter Milan provisionally returned to the top of Serie A on Tuesday with an unconvincing 1-0 win over Bologna that snapped a run of four games without a victory for Roberto Mancini's side.

Inter were forced to play the final 30 minutes a man down after Brazilian midfielder Felipe Melo was sent off, but the visitors were gifted all three points as a defensive error enabled Mauro Icardi to slot home the only goal of the game on 67 minutes.

The National Football League has filed its appeal of a U.S. judge's decision in the Deflategate case which pitted New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady against commissioner Roger Goodell.

The league's opening brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit questions the decision by Judge Richard M. Berman on September 3 that vacated Brady's four-game suspension.

Michael Cheika's father was his harshest critic as a rugby player but his courage in leaving Lebanon for a new life in Australia has been an example in hauling the Wallabies to the World Cup final.

The Australia coach told AFP in an interview that he hopes he has given this "no fear factor" to his players going into the fiery atmosphere of Saturday's encounter with arch-rivals New Zealand.