Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays to play exhibition games in Montreal
By Sean Penney
The Boston Red Sox are in Canada this weekend, but the next time they travel north of the border to meet the Blue Jays it won’t be in Toronto. Baseball is coming back to Montreal. Well, briefly anyway.
The Red Sox and Blue Jays will play a two-game exhibition series next spring at Olympic Stadium in Montreal on Friday, April 1 and Saturday, April 2. This will mark the third consecutive year that the Blue Jays will play a preseason game in Montreal, but it will be a first for the Red Sox.
It's official: Red Sox will play the Blue Jays on April 1 and 2, 2016 in Montreal at Olympic Stadium. Tickets on sale Sept. 26.
— Jason Mastrodonato (@JMastrodonato) September 18, 2015
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Fans in Montreal have been salivating over bringing baseball back to their town ever since the Expos packed up and moved to Washington to become the franchise we now know as the Nationals. The city may not have a team of their own again yet, but Montreal mayor Denis Coderre has high hopes that this brief taste of Major League action will be a step in the right direction toward reviving the Expos.
Playing in front of the Olympic Stadium crowd again is a significant event for all of Canada, which currently only has the Blue Jays to represent the entire country. It’s also an event that the Red Sox are excited to be a part of.
"“We are very excited to play in Montreal next spring, and we thank Paul Beeston and the Blue Jays for this opportunity,” said Red Sox executive vice president Sam Kennedy in a statement, per NESN. “We have seen over the last few years that the City of Montreal has demonstrated a strong passion for baseball, and with the significant presence of Red Sox Nation in the Province of Quebec and all of eastern Canada, the energy and atmosphere of the games should be electric.”"
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Boston has a limited history with the former Expos franchise given that they were located in the National League, but the teams are forever bonded by one of the greatest trades the Red Sox ever managed to pull off. In November of 1997, then-general manager Dan Duquette swindled his former team out of reigning Cy Young award winner Pedro Martinez in a franchise-altering move that would land the Red Sox arguably the greatest pitcher to ever take the mound for Boston.
Duquette isn’t the only front office executive to share ties with Boston and Montreal. Red Sox president of baseball operations, Dave Dombrowski, spent time in the Expos front office before he became general manager of the Florida Marlins in the early 90’s, which is where he would end up first working for current Red Sox owner John Henry.
Giving Montreal their baseball team back may remain but a dream for now, but for a couple of days next spring the Red Sox will have the chance to help remind them why they should keep pushing to bring back the Expos.