Baseball

Washington Gov. Booth Gardner predicted that baseball owners will approve the sale of the Seattle Mariners to a group led by a Japanese industrialist because they want to avoid possible legal action.

“My instincts are that, in the end, they will approve the ownership proposal,” Gardner said. “The ownership group doesn’t want legal action, and baseball doesn’t want legal action.”

A group dominated by Hiroshi Yamauchi, president of Nintendo Co. Ltd. of Kyoto., has proposed to raise $125 million to purchase the Mariners from Jeff Smulyan. Commissioner Fay Vincent has said the proposal probably will not be approved.

In other developments, Florida Marlin officials denied reports that they tried to block the Mariners from moving to St. Petersburg, Fla., but said the team should be required to pay a transfer fee if it does move.