The St Louis Cardinals are being investigated by the FBI after they allegedly hacked into the computer networks of the Houston Astros.

The FBI and the American Justice Department are looking into the incident after claims were made by The New York Times that Cardinals officials had hacked into the system of the Astros to obtain information regarding players, scouting reports, statistics and other internal data.

The MLB said in a statement: "Major League Baseball has been aware of and has fully cooperated with the federal investigation into the illegal breach of the Astros' baseball operations database.

"Once the investigative process has been completed by federal law enforcement officials, we will evaluate the next steps and will make decisions promptly."

Cardinals manager Mike Matheny told reporters: "Something is going on. We don't know how to react at all until we have more information, so we don't."

The Cardinals added in a statement: "The team has fully cooperated with the investigation and will continue to do so."

Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow was formerly on the staff of the Cardinals from 2003 to 2011.