Baseball, D.C. Are in a League Of Their Own

So, as the District will almost certainly discover, MLB has -- from the very first negotiations -- made sure that the city's neck was securely in the arbitration noose. If the council does not relent and honor its contractual obligations, the city will be looking down the barrel of huge damages, in the tens of millions of dollars. And that's exactly what should happen. In retrospect, what would any neutral arbitrator think? The District used the false promise of a $535 million ballpark to bait-and-switch MLB into moving a team to Washington. Maybe that's not what anybody intended. But that's how it worked out.

If the council does not approve a lease for the new park this month, then MLB says that "all prior concessions by MLB would be revisited." In other words, the $20 million that MLB voluntarily threw into the pot recently, along with several other concessions on the split of development rights, will disappear quickly.

The District is focused on how much money it might lose in cost overruns on a new stadium. If the mayor and the council think that scenario is bad, they ought to get out their pencils and figure out how much money they can lose if they don't build the ballpark. Those who are so eager to go back on a deal that their city signed last year -- after endless and meticulous negotiations -- better get a handle on the potential legal damages they may face. Not to mention the anger of developers who have already poured millions into projects near the proposed ballpark because they felt they could take the city at its word.

Both MLB and the District are in shock and denial at the disintegration of the whole situation in the last few days. Silly MLB, it actually believed that Mayor Anthony Williams or council Chairman Linda Cropp could deliver the votes they claimed to have lined up. Baseball can't quite face how badly it needs Washington -- especially that $450 million it has already (psychologically) spent. As for District politicians, they have a spectacular case of convenient amnesia. They've forgotten all the reasons why they gave MLB the sweet deal that it got last year.

But an arbitrator probably won't forget. Baseball and the District negotiated the issue of cost overruns long ago. The District got 'em. Ooops.

Don't let any of this spoil your holiday cheer. Just sit back and watch the fun.

What we'll be watching will be baseball and political theater of the absurd. Don't view the shenanigans as drama but rather as farce. That way, you'll enjoy each new twist more, be aggravated less and, also, be much closer to the truth.

The dishonorable District government and the go-for-the-last-buck bosses of Major League Baseball -- what a perfect match. Now, they're stuck with each other, good and proper. Some would call it fate. Others among us simply prefer to think of it as poetic justice.