MD80 FLT CREW WHILE TAXIING HAS A CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH ANOTHER ACFT CLRING THE RWY AT SAN.

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WE WERE CLRED BY SAN GND TO TAXI TO RWY 27. THERE WAS NO MENTION OF HOLD SHORT OR GIVING WAY TO ANY OTHER ACFT. AS WE APCHED INTXN B5 I NOTICED A B737 ROLLING OUT ON RWY 27 AT A FAIRLY GOOD SPD. FROM THE AIRPLANE'S SPD I ASSUMED THEY WOULD CONTINUE DOWN THE RWY TO INTXN B6 IN ORDER TO EXIT INTO THE RAMP AREA. I LOOKED DOWN AT MY GND SPD AND NOTICED WE WERE TAXIING AT 16 KTS. AS I LOOKED UP ACR Y WAS IN THE PROCESS OF EXITING THE RWY IMMEDIATELY IN FRONT OF US AT EXIT B5 AND I STILL ASSUMED THEY WERE GOING TO GIVE WAY TO US. GND SUDDENLY ASKED IF WE COULD GIVE WAY TO ACR Y AND BY NOW IT WAS OBVIOUS THAT ACR Y WASN'T GOING TO STOP; SO I AGGRESSIVELY APPLIED BRAKES AND MADE AN EMER STOP. ACR Y CAME SCREAMING OFF EXIT B5 AT WHAT I ESTIMATE WAS APPROX 25-35 KTS AND THEIR R WINGTIP PASSED LESS THAN 10 FT FROM OUR COCKPIT IN MY ESTIMATION. THIS WAS WAY TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT AND I IMMEDIATELY LET SAN GND KNOW WE NEARLY HAD A COLLISION ON THE TXWY WITH ACR Y. I ALSO CALLED THE FLT ATTENDANTS AND VERIFIED THAT EVERYONE IN THE BACK WAS ALRIGHT. AS ACR Y PASSED INTO THE RAMP THEY INFORMED GND THEY HAD BEEN GIVEN A GATE CHANGE AND NOW WOULD HAVE TO WAIT ON US TO PASS SO THEY COULD TAXI TO THE OPPOSITE OF THE TERMINAL WHERE THEIR NEW GATE WAS. ALL THIS WHICH RESULTED IN A NEAR MISS; ONLY TO HAVE TO WAIT FOR A NEW GATE AFTER WE TAXIED PAST. I ATTRIBUTE THE CAUSE OF THIS NEAR ACCIDENT AS A FAILURE OF SAN GND/TWR TO ADEQUATELY COORDINATE OUR TAXI WITH ACR Y'S RWY EXIT. I ALSO THINK ANOTHER CONTRIBUTING FACTOR IS THE CORPORATE CULTURE OF HURRY; HURRY; HURRY. UNFORTUNATELY HAD THEY COLLIDED WITH US; I'M GUESSING THAT I WOULD HAVE LIKELY BEEN SERIOUSLY INJURED OR EVEN KILLED BY THEIR WINGTIP WHICH WOULD HAVE MOST LIKELY SLICED THROUGH MY SIDE OF THE COCKPIT. I CAN'T EMPHASIZE HOW CLOSE THEIR WINGTIP CAME TO OUR COCKPIT AND THE SPD AT WHICH THEY WERE EXITING THE RWY INTO A CONGESTED RAMP AREA. COMPLETELY UNSAFE AND DANGEROUS.