As much as I like to see a team back in Montreal, MLB is basically a sham, with no salary cap. Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Kansas City, are examples of what even a new Expos team would be like.
If the strike didn't happen in 94, most likely, the Expos are still around, or at least would have stayed a few years longer.
The Baseball landscape is much different. For example the reds just overpaid for votto.. you have to have good management (like the Jays for example) that develop well and have 5-7 year windows per team. The Yankees, Red sox may over pay for players but they don't win all the time. For example I am confident that the Jays will knock the red sox off the that 2nd place holder in the AL east over time.
The Baseball landscape is much different. For example the reds just overpaid for votto.. you have to have good management (like the Jays for example) that develop well and have 5-7 year windows per team. The Yankees, Red sox may over pay for players but they don't win all the time. For example I am confident that the Jays will knock the red sox off the that 2nd place holder in the AL east over time.
Yeah, the correlation between money and success still exists of course and poorer teams have much smaller windows but because of economic realities less and less teams are spending whatever it takes to win (Even the Yankees have a budget now) and some poorer teams with good management are actually competitive.
A team like Pittsburgh is both broke and poorly run.
Yeah, the correlation between money and success still exists of course and poorer teams have much smaller windows but because of economic realities less and less teams are spending whatever it takes to win (Even the Yankees have a budget now) and some poorer teams with good management are actually competitive.
A team like Pittsburgh is both broke and poorly run.
Pittsburgh's owner is super cheap and that team is very poorly run indeed. I guess it comes down to ownership.
A return of a MLB team in montreal could only be possible through expansion so a said team would cost around 800m$. There's obviously enough money in Montreal so that it could happen. It would be great to have a stadium somewhere near downtown too. But would the fans come? The main reason why they didn't with the expos is because of the dreadful olympic stadium. I think amateurs would show up for games under a sunny sky in the middle of July. The next step is convincing investors and eventually the league. Maybe by 2025.
You guys know that Tampa has had a top three baseball team for about four years now right?
Tampa draws even fewer people than the Spos did than they were good. It's just intellectually dishonest to rant on about how small markets can never win and then point to the Dodgers (!!!), the Orioles, the Pirates and the Royals as examples. Those are maybe the four worst owners in baseball 1-4 and even then the Royals are stacked with young talent and could very well be a good team as soon as next year.
Also, baseball basically has a salary cap now and the smallest market in baseball by population just gave their first basemen 10 years and $220 million. Stop complaining.
Baseball in Montreal is definitely viable if you have:
A. an owner who isn't a con artist like Loria
B. a better stadium
Unfortunately those two things are very difficult to find. In the short term the best bet might be to try and attract a minor league team (build a stadium on the south shore or something) and promote local baseball to help kill off the fallacy that no sport but hockey works in Montreal, while they try and attract investors.
I haven't really been following baseball since the Expos left. What happened to Vlad? I mean his stats up to this year seem good even though he's getting old and declining... why is he signed to a minor league contract?
I think I will watch the Jays if he makes the team.
You know what? Having Vladdy on the Blue Jays (assuming he gets all the way back to MLB) might actually get me to give baseball a chance again. I've avoided it like the plague since the Expos left.
Go Vladdy ! I really hope he becomes a regular on the Jays (he should be able to, I really think he has gotten a tough go compared to how well he has played the last few seasons), It'd be fun to get back into baseball and the Jays have a pretty fun team to watch, though I've never been able to really like them
Vlad has been is discussion for years in Toronto, think you can all thank Alex for that. Alex is still from Montreal & if anyone of us could get a guy we have fond memories of for nothing, we do it! Just hope Vlad can make the team!
Seeing how Toronto actually built a stadium downtown and with a roof system that actually works, it hurts. Rogers Centre is not the best place to watch baseball for sure but it's right downtown and in a hot summer day the roof being open makes it awesome to watch.
Seeing how Toronto actually built a stadium downtown and with a roof system that actually works, it hurts. Rogers Centre is not the best place to watch baseball for sure but it's right downtown and in a hot summer day the roof being open makes it awesome to watch.
Ugh what could have been.
I know eh? Toronto will need to address the issue of a new stadium in 20-30 years too but I think Toronto will have the capital to pull that off. There'll probably be a good location too. Montreal struggled to find it and then when it all seemed ready to happen, the damn provincial government pulled out. It might take an owner outside of Quebec like with Gillette and the Habs (he turned them from an 80M purchase to a half a billion dollar sale!) to do it but there needs to be committment from various parties to get that downtown stadium.
And yes the product on the field would need to be great but the Spos always did great at Jarry Park when they sucked. When they blew at the Big O, no one wanted to go because the location and the facility was a turn-off that could only be ignored with a contending team. It's a bit like that with the Jays when they suck but at least from May-September there's the open roof to enjoy the weather day or night! I go to half a dozen Jay games a year I'd say (two this year so far) and it is not a perfect stadium for baseball but it's still great in the summer anyway. Look what an outdoor place did for the Alouettes! That could've and should've been the Expos.
Seeing how Toronto actually built a stadium downtown and with a roof system that actually works, it hurts. Rogers Centre is not the best place to watch baseball for sure but it's right downtown and in a hot summer day the roof being open makes it awesome to watch.
Ugh what could have been.
What could have been... I have hated Fehr, Selig and August of 1994...what could have been...
What happened to the Spos after that was tragic...
Maybe someday, just maybe someone will bring them back...?
