I don't really want to spend the next x number of weeks tracking every single story about the stadium lease, but I feel I've set the precedent. Ah well. Thursday's Post has "Nats Bidders Told Not to Offer Funds", which says that MLB told the groups bidding to buy the Nationals back in early November not to promise city officials money for the new stadium. The story also gives more detail on Marion Barry's oh-so-subtle attempts to become commissioner of baseball by trying to "force" MLB to sell the Nats to a bidder who has agreed to pay for stadium cost overruns. (Yeah. Attempting to strong-arm MLB. That'll work.) The story also notes that despite Barry's comments yesterday, Carol Schwartz says that she never told the Mayor-for-Life that she was on-board with his "deal." (I'm starting to have flashbacks to the DC government of the 1980s, and it's not pretty.) UPDATE: Carol Schwartz has penned a stern Letter to the Editor to the Post about Barry's "deal" and the first Post story on it.

The DC web site has updated and expanded its Baseball in DC page, including most of the same links it's had all along, but now there's also a aggregation page of city press releases relating to baseball; they've also added a Public Comments and Testimony section. (Hat tip to DCist for noting the new version of the page, as well as it's prominent spot on the dc.gov home page.)

Today's Post stories: "Barry Acted to Block Stadium, Ex-Mayor Says He Had Been Negotiating Deal," with the tales of the behind-the-scenes maneuvering that led to the cancellation of Tuesday's lease vote; "Stadium Arbitration Could Take Months," detailing the unusual situation of arbitration over a stadium itself; "In Baseball Melodrama, No Shortage of Critics," with a rundown of public opinion; and "Baseball, D.C. Are in a League Of Their Own" by Thomas Boswell, which does a good job of explaining that the Nationals are not about to be taken away from DC. The WashTimes has "D.C. stadium vote delayed until next year", which is a more straightforward recounting of where things currently stand.