On Sunday afternoon, six teams will officially kick off the 2017 regular season, and the other 24 clubs will join them in action on the day that we’ve all been waiting for -- Opening Day. Eventually every team will have the chance to play its home opener, but for the 13th straight year, one city in particular will have to observe the festivities from the sidelines, and that city is Montreal.
How close is baseball to possibly returning to Montreal?
Saturday’s Say Hey, Baseball takes a look at the rumors swirling around MLB’s possible return to Montreal. Plus, more 2017 predictions and even some simulations!
Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports
The Toronto Blue Jays are currently in town for a couple of exhibition games, and they’re playing in front of even more impassioned crowds of baseball fans there than usual. That’s because there are rumors that MLB could be returning to Montreal in the future. There have been “anonymous sources” who are claiming that a group of investors have apparently ticked all of the boxes needed to actually get serious about bringing a team to Montreal. The rumor mill was spinning so quickly on this that a Canadian business executive had to clarify things as far as a return was concerned.
There are still plenty of hurdles that need to be cleared before this turns into a reality. Will this be an expansion team? If so, this could only happen after the next collective bargaining agreement is agreed upon. There could be a relocation, but the only two relocation candidates (Tampa and Oakland) are extremely likely to stay put. You could say that the Win Probability Chart is currently on the low point for Montreal, but we all know that those things have a tendency to get wild. Another year will pass without baseball in Montreal, but there’s a chance that there won’t be too many more of those years for our friends in Quebec.
- Are you trying to decide which game -- other than your favorite team’s game -- that you’re going to watch on Monday? Grant Brisbee tried to rank all 15 matchups for the most wonderful day of the year.
- Alex Bregman doesn’t believe in saving some for the regular season. Instead, he showed off his range by throwing out a runner at first from the third base foul territory.
- If you aren’t already excited about the season getting underway, The Ringer has 15 reasons for you to get jazzed up about the 2017 campaign.
- The crew at Beyond the Box Score took a stab at some preseason predictions. We all know that these are always 100% accurate and never incorrect!
- The Mariners will unfortunately be without Drew Smyly for at least six weeks due to a flexor strain.
- The Braves invited the Yankees to come down to Cobb County to help open up their new stadium in the suburbs.
- The crew at Let’s Go Tribe used Out of the Park Baseball to simulate the upcoming season. Cleveland fans might like the regular season, but maybe not the playoffs.
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