"Finally, there is movement toward solving one of baseball's most vexing problems.

Baseball is trying to accelerate a decision on whether to allow the Oakland Athletics to relocate to San Jose, according to major league sources.

Commissioner Bud Selig met with top A's officials earlier this month and plans to meet with San Francisco Giants executives within two weeks, sources say.

The meetings represent the biggest step toward a resolution of the Athletics' quest to relocate since Selig appointed a three-member committee to study the franchise's' situation in March 2009.

The Giants, who draw a significant part of their fan and corporate bases from the counties south of San Francisco, remain adamantly opposed to relinquishing their territorial rights to San Jose and the South Bay region.

San Jose, about 45 miles south of San Francisco, is the largest city in the South Bay — and the entire Bay Area.

The Athletics, independent of the Giants' opposition, are "checking off boxes" to ensure that baseball is satisfied with their plan to relocate, sources say.

The team, according to one source, has agreed to expand the capacity of Cisco Field, its proposed 32,000-seat ballpark, as one of the conditions for a move.

The Giants' approval — the final and biggest stumbling block to the Athletics' relocation – will not be easy to secure."