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Sometimes in baseball, everyone knows when the game is over. Even if it's only the seventh inning, if one team is up by five runs and the other team is showing no signs of life, fans will often head for the parking lot, confident they won't miss a heroic comeback.

That's the way it must feel for supporters of spring training in Tucson after being let down by the Legislature last week. State leaders failed to pass a bill that would have allowed Pima County voters to weigh new taxes to fund spring-training facilities and youth sports.

The games will go on — at least for a while — but the future of spring training in Tucson looks bleak. And that's a shame.

The Legislature should have given Pima County voters the chance to try to keep spring training.

As things stand, it's only a matter of time before the Chicago White Sox, Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks find new places to play in February and March.

"I think it's going to take a minor miracle to save spring training baseball in Southern Arizona," said Tom Tracy, chairman of the Pima County Sports and Tourism Authority, a group formed this year in an attempt to preserve spring training and minor-league baseball in the region.

"I'm not optimistic. That bill was our best shot to keep spring training and to enhance youth sports."

The measure would have created a taxing district. If voters had approved the taxes, the authority would have had a dedicated funding source to pay for a new baseball facility or upgrade existing ones. Ten percent of its revenues would have gone to youth sports activities in Pima County.

For those not keeping score, here's what's been happening on the local baseball landscape:

● The White Sox announced in 2006 that the team would leave Tucson and hold spring training in Glendale. The team's problem is that it is contractually obligated to stay in Pima County until 2012 unless it finds a replacement major-league team. If the team moves next season without finding a replacement, it could face a legal battle with the county.

● The Colorado Rockies last year asked for significant upgrades to the team's spring-training facilities at Hi Corbett Field. The team was also in preliminary talks to move to a new facility in Goodyear. However, that stadium is no longer available.

● Meanwhile, the Class AAA Tucson Sidewinders were sold last year and are slated to move to Reno, Nev., in 2009. The Sidewinders are in their farewell season in Tucson and there are no firm plans for a minor-league club to play in Tucson next year.

If the White Sox leave without finding a replacement, both the Rockies and Diamondbacks can legally break their leases. And if the Rockies leave, the Diamondbacks will certainly not want to train in Tucson by themselves while a dozen or so teams are practicing in the Phoenix area.

Tracy, the authority's chairman, said his group will discuss options for keeping spring training in Southern Arizona. He said the group will talk to Rockies officials soon about the team's spring-training future.

"The Rockies would still dearly love to stay in Tucson, but at this point they have to look after their business interests," Tracy said. "I'm positive they'll begin to explore their options outside of Tucson."

Jay Alves, the Rockies' vice president of communications and public relations, said Tuesday the team didn't have anything to say at this time about its future in Tucson. He did confirm that the club would meet with the sports authority.

Tracy isn't sure why the baseball bill failed. It passed in the House but never came up for a vote in the Senate, which spent much of its last day Friday debating an anti-gay-marriage initiative.

Whatever happened, lawmakers blew it. Voters might have ultimately rejected the new taxes, but they also might have approved. In the absence of a choice, Tucson's 60-year tradition of spring training baseball is in jeopardy.