Has anyone been following the story of the sale Texas Rangers? It's strangely similar to the Cubs from a year ago. Like the Cubs, the team for sale and he team was placed in bankruptcy. Unlike the Cubs, the courts have stayed involved and all hell is on the verge of breaking loose.

Maury Brown over at Fangraphs sums up the situation:

The group led by Chuck Greenberg and Nolan Ryan is, of course, going to be there, but beyond that, official bidders have until 8pm CT on Tues. night to file for the Weds. auction that begins at 9am CT and will be overseen by the Honorable Russell F. Nelms. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has filed documents with the court in attempts to gain access to the club purchase, and Houston businessman Jim Crane has been involved with mediation sessions with William Snyder, the chief restructuring officer in the case. Dallas businessman Jeff Beck is a possibility, as well. What is unknown at the time of publication is whether Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. will be preapproved by MLB for bidding on the club, as well. If so, there could be as many as 5 groups anteing up for the purchase of the club.

What happens when the auction is over? Well, MLB owners still have to approve of the new owner, right? Yes. What happens if the new owner is unacceptable to 75% of current MLB owners?

If the league does not approve the winner of the auction, one could surmise that the club would become “wards of the state”, with MLB taking over the operations of the club until the smoke had cleared in the courts. The last time this occurred was with the then Montreal Expos in Nov. of 2001. The Lenders would most assuredly challenge MLB’s league constitution saying that the bankruptcy process to pay back lenders supersedes that of the league.

What happens if the judge doesn't pick the highest bidder? Again, any creditors who would be left with outstanding debts post sale could sue and ask the court to take the higher bid to generate more cash and cover more of the creditor's debts.

This could have happened to the Cubs last year. Instead, we may get to see this in Texas instead.

Too bad.