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OT: MLB Thread

Makes sense to go in as a Rockie -- those were his big number years. Plus, he'd be the first member of the Rockies to go in.

I'm glad the voters got over the Mile High advantage --- Walker's numbers away from Denver are easily HOF worthy.
 
CH1 said:
Makes sense to go in as a Rockie -- those were his big number years. Plus, he'd be the first member of the Rockies to go in.

I'm glad the voters got over the Mile High advantage --- Walker's numbers away from Denver are easily HOF worthy.
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Never understood why this was thing but the Green Monster in Boston or the short porch in Yankee Stadium were not.
 
Shared team in 2024? Maybe we’re being played like UFAs pretending to negotiate with the Habs in good faith. Tampa taxpayers really need to be coerced into a new ballpark, it seems. And the idea of two MLB ball parks for one team is insane.

But still...
 
wiseguy1 said:
cultmtl.com

Announcement about the return of the Montreal Expos to be made this fall

Sources close to Cult MTL have confirmed that an announcement about the return of the Montreal Expos will be made in October or November.
cultmtl.com cultmtl.com
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So in other words, nothing. An announcement MIGHT be made in October or November about something regarding a team being shared between Tampa and Montreal. No source given so that the report could be verified in any way.

Just more bullshit. Stories are being planted in the media to put pressure on the civic leaders in both cities. This is all about billionaire owners trying to get their hands on tax money. Nothing more.
 
I think there are some folks in Montreal wagering that TB will be unable to get their shit together politically. I also suspect it’s Bell that is lurking in the background… TSN and RDS.
 
lecoqsportif said:
I think there are some folks in Montreal wagering that TB will be unable to get their shit together politically. I also suspect it’s Bell that is lurking in the background… TSN and RDS.
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I assume the team will still be called the Tampa Bay Rays. After the novelty of having MLB back in Montreal wears off , I think it will be hard to get bums in the seats for a team that doesn't carry the city name.
 
Yeah, that’s fair.

This is really about TB and whether they can fight their way out of wet paper bag. So far, they’ve been kinda incompetent.
 
The team will suck again. Free agents will not want to play for a team that will require two residences for the season.
 
wiseguy1 said:
The team will suck again. Free agents will not want to play for a team that will require two residences for the season.
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That's ok. Tampa's can't afford free agents anyway. Despite their on-field success, they are a broke ass team, hence why they are considering this arrangement in the first place.
 
CH1 said:
That's ok. Tampa's can't afford free agents anyway. Despite their on-field success, they are a broke ass team, hence why they are considering this arrangement in the first place.
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They have a knack of signing 2nd level free agents that help the team a lot. That will end if they split the season.
 
CH1 said:
That's ok. Tampa's can't afford free agents anyway. Despite their on-field success, they are a broke ass team, hence why they are considering this arrangement in the first place.
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So how does this work

TB and Expos share Tropicana Field and wherever they play in Montreal
 
CH1 said:
We’ll find out soon enough

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They're putting up the sign because they know that for playoff games people will actually show up plus they'll be on national TV. It's just a pressure tactic to make the local civic leaders appear small minded and cheap. If Sternberg gets what he wants from them we'll never hear another word spoken about Montreal. This is no different than that July 1st several years ago when Brett Hull was all but signed as a free agent by the Habs until he signed in Detroit instead. His agent just used the Habs as leverage and that's what the Rays ownership group is doing here: using the threat of moving to Montreal as leverage. A two city team (especially two cities roughly 1500 miles and an international border apart) is never going to happen.

And Montrealers won't show up to watch a team that isn't really their own but just slumming for the first 3 months of the regular season. All the important games down the stretch and in the playoffs are going to be played in Tampa. Montreal just gets the dregs.

I remember back in 1995 the Seattle Mariners were threatening to leave town if the Kingdome wasn't replaced with a new taxpayer funded park. There was even talk about the M's playing some of their regular season games at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver. But then the Mariners got hot down the stretch, won the division in a one game playoff, then beat the Yankees in the divisional playoff and nearly went to the World Series. After that funding for the new stadium got fast tracked through city hall. Safeco Field was built (at a cost of about $1 billion Canadian at the time) and to this day we've never heard another thing about the Mariners playing any games in Vancouver.

Pro sports in the 21st century isn't about sports, it's about real estate speculation.
 
WeHaveMoreCupsThanYou said:
They're putting up the sign because they know that for playoff games people will actually show up plus they'll be on national TV. It's just a pressure tactic to make the local civic leaders appear small minded and cheap. If Sternberg gets what he wants from them we'll never hear another word spoken about Montreal. This is no different than that July 1st several years ago when Brett Hull was all but signed as a free agent by the Habs until he signed in Detroit instead. His agent just used the Habs as leverage and that's what the Rays ownership group is doing here: using the threat of moving to Montreal as leverage. A two city team (especially two cities roughly 1500 miles and an international border apart) is never going to happen.

And Montrealers won't show up to watch a team that isn't really their own but just slumming for the first 3 months of the regular season. All the important games down the stretch and in the playoffs are going to be played in Tampa. Montreal just gets the dregs.

I remember back in 1995 the Seattle Mariners were threatening to leave town if the Kingdome wasn't replaced with a new taxpayer funded park. There was even talk about the M's playing some of their regular season games at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver. But then the Mariners got hot down the stretch, won the division in a one game playoff, then beat the Yankees in the divisional playoff and nearly went to the World Series. After that funding for the new stadium got fast tracked through city hall. Safeco Field was built (at a cost of about $1 billion Canadian at the time) and to this day we've never heard another thing about the Mariners playing any games in Vancouver.

Pro sports in the 21st century isn't about sports, it's about real estate speculation.
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Not sure if you’re aware the Expos are only a small part of a potential multibillion real estate project spearheaded by Claridge & Devimco. Claridge = Bronfman private equity firm, they know that Griffintown is billions in development. The next big thing in Mtl

A major team will allow the group to seek nice perks such as a REM station right to the site. With housing shortage and economic recovery money flowing timing is great.

Re: important games
the proposed layout has games from April to mid-June in TBay, and rest of the season in Mtl, playoffs would alternate yearly between the two cities

I still find it hard to believe the most powerful union in pro-sports MLBPA would approve such a move but alas..

MLB is a distant #3 pro sport here in the US now - significantly behind NBA & NFL. The commissioner & owners know it, there’s also the issue of desperation - how to grow the revenue base of MLB in the future
 
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