Reassurance, If You Needed It

Look, we're getting the Expos. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Thursday, when the MLB Executive Committee met and did not announce a new home for the 'Spos, was not a setback - Bob DuPuy said beforehand we wouldn't hear anything definitive, and we didn't. It doesn't matter. Consider all this:

The memorandum of understanding between MLB and the DC Sports 'n' Entertainment Commission has been formally approved. "The unanimous vote . . . represents the final step from city officials before Major League Baseball executives announce the Expos' new home next week."

Didn't Bob DuPuy say no one's been eliminated? Someone tell Portland.

Oregon Stadium Campaign leader David Kahn said he has been in contact with a relocation committee member this week.

"Our conversation was consistent with what has been evolving over the last several weeks," Kahn said. "That is, it appears as if they have been pointing toward a conclusion to the Expos franchise that resides in Washington, D.C."

Someone tell Vegas, too.

[Vegas mayor "Diamond" Oscar] Goodman said he is prepared to concede the Expos race to the Washington, D.C. group, but said it was a "positive" for Las Vegas that Selig gave the city serious consideration.

Those District businesses are eager to buy me baseball.

Many of the D.C. businesses that would be taxed to help pay for a new baseball stadium said yesterday that they support the preliminary details of the proposal, which as currently envisioned would cost the city's largest companies up to $28,000 a year.

The Potomac Cannons have just signed on as an A-Ball affiliate of the Expos. No big deal? Maybe, except that they've been trying to do this for two years in hopes that the Expos would move down here, but were denied permission. This time they got it.

Of course, there's Angelos trouble. There's always Angelos trouble. It'll pass. He's one man standing against almost everyone else in MLB, not to mention the country, and his choice is to get a big fat payday and a team in DC or to get nothing and a team in DC. He may be evil, but he's not stupid. Expect an announcement next week.