WASHINGTON; Numbers Total 5 Also-Rans To the Nation's Capital
Now approaching is that day, and that defining moment, when the National League Expansion Committee will cast its this-is-it, apocalyptic vote revealing which two of the six aspirant cities have been favored with expansion franchises.</br></br>So, time to play hardball. No More Nice Guy. If, in this essay, the other cities are bruised a bit, sorry.</br></br>But Washington's stake is a big one. It will tell us whether the nation's capital has been returned to the big league company we knew for 70 years, or condemned again to baseball's nowhere.</br></br>Time to grab some lapels and shake the expansion committee into recognition of all the realities - of the clear logic, the massive advantages of putting a team in Washington.</br></br>And time, if necessary, to bash those other presumptuous municipalities and expose their papered-over weaknesses. Those other places - Miami; Tampa-St. Petersburg; Orlando, Fla.; Buffalo; Denver - truthfully they've all got nice people, but not enough of them.