With the way he’s hitting, Alex Rodriguez looks likely to soon join Willie Mays on the career home run chart. But the controversy surrounding this achievement will take longer to resolve.

In fact, the hearing to decide whether A-Rod will get a $6 million bonus for tying Mays with 660 homers might be tabled until the offseason. Usually, arbitrations are expedited when they involve a suspension such as the last time A-Rod entered baseball’s legal arena. There is no reason to speed this case along, especially because neither the Yankees nor A-Rod seem anxious to mess with the positive vibe around the controversial slugger.

Rodriguez, who went 1-for-4 in the Yankees’ 13-4 win over the Tigers, has 658 career homers. Assuming he hits two more, the process for this saga officially will unroll. It’s a process that took life in the autumn of 2007, when A-Rod and the Yankees negotiated a unique, unprecedented marketing agreement to get him $30 million on top of his $275 million guaranteed — based on the premise Rodriguez had a chance to upend Barry Bonds as the all-time home run king.

According to two sources familiar with the situation, when Rodriguez goes deep with number 660, the Yankees will have a precise period of time — two weeks, as per one of the sources — to declare this as a marketable milestone. If they were to do this, then Rodriguez would sign over the rights to his image and associated branding for the price of $6 million.

The same drill would go into effect should A-Rod tie Babe Ruth (714), Hank Aaron (755) and Bonds (762), as well as pass Bonds with his 763rd homer.

But the Yankees have no intention of making such a declaration, as they feel A-Rod’s rich history of illegal performance-enhancing drug usage renders his accomplishments unmarketable. Once the Yankees formalize this decision, then A-Rod has a set period of time — 30 days, according to one source — to file a grievance. Though Rodriguez has shied away from publicly discussing this, every indication is that he will challenge the Yankees’ interpretation of the side deal.

Major League Baseball will support the Yankees’ efforts in such a grievance, and the Players Association will lead the charge for A-Rod. Independent arbitrator Fredric Horowitz, the same man who reduced Rodriguez’s 211-game suspension to the entirety of the 2014 season, would hear the case.

The Yankees must prove they utilized good faith in declining to notate A-Rod’s homer as a milestone, and the Yankees already are taking precautions to avoid giving the Rodriguez camp more ammunition. The Yankees’ “Upcoming Milestones” chart, distributed this week in the Comerica Park press box, doesn’t mention A-Rod’s pending passing of Mays, although it does mention that Brett Gardner needs one stolen base to pass Wid Conroy for sixth place on the Yankees’ all-time stolen base list.

A-Rod and the Players Association can cite the warm Yankee Stadium reception for A-Rod this year, and posit that customers might indeed be interested in memorabilia celebrating A-Rod’s leap over Mays. After all, when Bonds surpassed Aaron on August 7, 2007, to become the new home run king, the city of San Francisco celebrated despite the wide belief Bonds used illegal performance-enhancing drugs. As of Tuesday evening, one still could go on MLB.com, the league’s official site, and purchase a ticket stub from the night Bonds hit home run 756.

In fact, another person involved in the dispute claims Rodriguez is entitled to his $6 million bonus money immediately upon hitting home run 660.

It’s possible this could be a relatively civil dispute about contract language. A-Rod appears set to go with attorney Jim Sharp, who has a wealth of experience in the world of sports law and is well-liked by the Yankees and MLB officials. Sharp presents a dramatic contrast to the colorful and contentious Joseph Tacopina, who led Rodriguez’s appeal in the fall of 2013 and also navigated him through government testimony against A-Rod’s cousin Yuri Sucart.

Then again, the stakes are high, and the A-Rod narrative rarely stays low-key for long. If he testifies on his own behalf, the Yankees’ attorneys could question him about his past transgressions, including some that have yet to be affirmed. The Yankees and MLB have long been interested about Rodriguez’s relationship with Canadian doctor Anthony Galea, who pleaded guilty in 2011 to transporting unapproved drugs into the United States.

If fireworks emerge, though, they’re likely to be long after A-Rod rounds the bases and joins Mays at 660.