MINNEAPOLIS -- Baseball's plan to eliminate two teams goes back to court Monday, when a judge hears arguments in a lawsuit involving the Minnesota Twins and their landlord.

The lawsuit, filed in November by the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, seeks to prevent baseball from eliminating the Twins and keep them in the Twin Cities.

Among the issues being argued Monday before Hennepin County District Judge Harry Crump are access to documents relating to the proposed elimination, and a motion by lawyers for the Twins and baseball to dismiss an injunction against contraction.

Crump responded to the lawsuit by issuing a temporary injunction forcing the team to honor its 2002 lease. After the Minnesota Court of Appeals upheld his order and the state Supreme Court declined to hear the case, baseball commissioner Bud Selig said no teams would be eliminated until 2003.

The commission, which operates the Metrodome, contends that by threatening to disband the team, baseball owners are interfering with its efforts to extend the Twins' lease, which expires after this season.

"Major league baseball is not acting to maximize competition. It is simply coming in here to contract a perfectly viable franchise for purposes that are neither legitimate nor justified," commission lawyer Corey Ayling said.

But attorney Roger Magnuson, who represents the Twins and baseball, defends Selig's intentions.

"The issue of contraction is central to major league baseball's ability to control this interstate business," Magnuson wrote.

Crump also could decide what to do with more than 21,000 documents the Twins turned over to commission attorneys, who want to analyze them for internal discussions about contraction and information on loans between team owners.

The Twins say the confidential documents contain sensitive trade secrets, wages and private financial data. The commission wants similar information from Major League Baseball, which has not produced any records, Ayling said.