Minneapolis ? The Minnesota Twins will play next season as part of a deal approved Thursday that settles a lawsuit blocking baseball’s contraction plan.

“This definitively removes the Twins from contraction for 2003,” said Bill Lester, executive director of the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, which agreed to drop its lawsuit against the team and baseball.

A signed settlement will be delivered today to Hennepin County District Judge Harry Seymour Crump, said Andrew Shea, a commission attorney. Crump mediated the settlement talks.

“Everybody who wants to keep major league baseball in Minnesota should be happy with this deal,” said Joe Anthony, a Minneapolis-based attorney for baseball.

In a statement accompanying the settlement, baseball commissioner Bud Selig said the deal signals a commitment “by all parties to seek to continue the long tradition of the Twins’ ballclub.”

“Major league baseball looks forward to working with the Twin Cities and all of Minnesota and their efforts to build a new ballpark and create an operating climate for the Twins that will ensure the continuation of baseball in Minnesota,” Selig’s statement read.

All claims against the Twins will be dismissed, but the stadium commission reserved the right to sue baseball if it tries again to eliminate the team.

The commission sued immediately after baseball owners voted Nov. 6 to fold two unidentified. It won a temporary restraining order and later an injunction to force the Twins to play in the Metrodome in 2002.

Selig announced in February that contraction wouldn’t occur this season, but he wouldn’t rule it out for future seasons.