The Toronto Blue Jays announced Monday that at the end of March 2014, Montreal will be the host of two exhibition games against the New York Mets. It still isn’t official yet, but Shi Davidi first reported it on Sportsnet.ca and it is expected to be announced Tuesday at some point.
It will mark the first time since the Montreal Expos played their last game in 2004 that an MLB game will be played there. Some questions do remain, especially the really important one, will the Olympic Stadium have the right field surface in time for the Jays and Mets to play in March? The Jays have had a lot of injuries this season and last, and I’m pretty sure they don’t want to have busy DL before the season even starts.
My question, which I hope will be answered tomorrow, is why the New York Mets and not the Washington Nationals? I know the Mets were the Expos first and last MLB team they played in the team’s history and of course Gary Carter being moved to New York in the 80’s leads to another link, but wouldn’t bringing in the Nats really fill up that stadium?
I mean look at it this way, Montreal sports fans are very passionate and bringing in the old team could electrify the crowd and really show the world that Montreal deserves another shot with an MLB team. I know beggars can’t be choosers, but Washington should have been the first choice, or maybe even the Dodgers, bringing in Puig and the old history between Montreal and LA would be really intriguing.
Still, with all the “bring baseball back to Montreal” movements, the Jays coming for a few games next year is great timing and I really hope it works out. There is so much the movements can do with an opportunity like this, the big issue is making sure the fans show up to see the Jays, a large amount of fans for two exhibition games could spell good things for the future of baseball in Montreal. If these games work out who knows maybe Montreal could host some WBC games in 2017!
First things first we need the stamp of approval from the league and the official press conference which should happen Tuesday, once this is all official, I think I will divulge more in this topic. I really hope everything runs smoothly, because if this all works out, I will defiantly buy tickets to both games. Stay tuned baseball fans, things are starting to get exciting in Montreal again.
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