From 2014 to 2019, there were Blue Jays preseason games in Montreal. It will be remembered that Olympic Stadium was packed whenever the Jays were in town.
There would have been games in 2020 if COVID-19 hadn’t come to the party.
It was a win-win for everyone. After all, Montreal could have baseball and show what the fans were capable of in Major League Baseball.
As for the Blue Jays, it allowed them to reaffirm their presence across Canada and allowed them to play two Pamplemousses games in front of a huge crowd.
Last year, even if it didn’t happen, we felt that the project was not dead and President Mark Shapiro said hope to be able to return to Montreal.
But this year, the discourse has changed.
As reported by journalist Raphaël Guillemette, who is currently covering the Blue Jays training camp in Dunedin on behalf of Radio-Canada, the club president has no plan to hold preseason games in Montreal eventually.
He reports not feeling any appetite on the subject from the Quebec partners, who have not contacted the Toronto organization for quite a while.
Of course, it’s easy to draw a connection between the end of the joint custody file with the Rays and the current lack of interest in preseason games.
We felt that a certain breaking point was coming in the file since Montreal deserved more than games from training camp. Has being told no to the Rays changed interest in exhibition games?
Maybe it has a connection, yes.
I can’t wait to see if, when the dust settles, the Olympic Stadium can once again be the scene of a few preseason matches – or more.
- Ricjy Tiedemann impresses at Blue Jays camp.
- Rogers Center shouldn’t be any more hitter-friendly than before.
- Noah Song is back in the baseball world after a stint in the military.
- Teoscar Hernandez is ready to make his mark in Seattle.
