Baseball postpones contraction until 2003

NEW YORK (AP) _ Faced with a string of legal losses, baseball commissioner Bud Selig finally decided Tuesday that the sport won't try to eliminate teams this year and postponed it until 2003.

Baseball had attempted to fold the Minnesota Twins and Montreal Expos but was thwarted by the Twins' landlord, which obtained an injunction that forced the team to honor its 2002 lease.

``While the clubs would have preferred to contract for 2002 and begin addressing the economic issues immediately,'' Selig said, ``events outside of our direct control, including yesterday's court decision in Minnesota, have required us to move the date of contraction to 2003.''