I watched about 2 innings of the Blue Jays game last night. The thing that struck me most in that brief time is their catcher is fucking awful at framing pitches. He probably cost Derek Law 2 strikes in one inning, which is really hard to overcome.
I feel like I’d be torn if I were a Jays fan as to whether or not they should trade Stroman. He’s having a nice year, maybe get some value while you can.
I thought it might be a bit of retroactive credit seeking, but it turns out Khan has been working on this for awhile. He was in New York back in 2016 pitching London to Manfred and crew. He even threw out the first pitch at a Mets game. It’s hard to imagine this two game series being profitable with the stadium retrofit costs (I doubt foul territory is being accurately depicted in those pics; the dugouts hadn’t even been installed yet.) Apparently, the turf and the rest of the top layer structure can be stored, so it can be dragged out again if this catches on. Perhaps MLB should stage the all-star game around the world every few years. But grass only, please.
Still, Khan (a sports nut) has big dreams for London. He’s hoping for an NFL franchise down the road. I’m not sure there is enough support, but it makes more sense than baseball or basketball with its once a week game format.
I’ve been to London and other UK cities 6 times over the last few years. There is zero coverage of MLN except for maybe a mention of the World Series, Cubs winning got some coverage in 2016, similar to how Leicester City winning got a bit of coverage on ESPN.
Even the NFL, with all those London games, barely gets a mention and it’s often for national anthem protests rather than the games.
It’s going to be really hard for MLB to succeed there. Yes , baseball caps are popular there among the young, but they’re more of a fashion statement. I think of them as similar to the hipsters in college who came back from studying abroad wearing soccer jerseys when I was in college.
It’s also clear that NFL leadership would really, really like to put a franchise in London. There are a lot of logistical reasons why that’s an idea that’ll lead to bad football, but never let it be said that the NFL isn’t obsessive about pursuing every single possible revenue stream.
I honestly have no idea why they haven’t signed him to an extension. He’s still in shi 20s and he’s good. There is very little pitching in the organization at any level; he’s not holding anyone back.
The catcher you refer to, Danny Jansen, is just such a massive letdown. He played okay late last year so they gave him the starting job, and he’s been incredibly bad.
Yeah, I just cannot see how MLB works with teams in Europe. The scheduling would be a nightmare. The NBA and NHL would be tough, too; both leagues have enough hockey/basketball fanatics in Europe to pack arenas starting now, but they’re not expanding there for a reason. I mean, there are demonstrable performance dropoffs to teams making West Coast swings from the East coast; going to Europe is twice as hard.
Tampa Bay wants to play a lot of games in Montreal along with Tampa.
Orioles are still playing like they really want back-to-back (-to-back-to-back) #1 overall draft picks. It’s really their only hope. At least they’re finally consistent. 
I’ve read this article twice now and still cannot believe what a dumb idea this is.
Montreal does not have an MLB stadium. (Yes, Olympic Stadium is still there. It is NOT an MLB stadium.) If it were to construct one, why not just move the team there full time? If Tampa constructs one, why not just move the team there?
If the team is called Tampa Bay Rays, people in Montreal will not perceive it as bieng their team. If it’s called the Montreal Rays or Expos or whatever, people in Tampa will not perceive it as being their team.
Maybe the Rays are so used to playing in a sub-standard stadium, that they thought two would be even better? 
So restore Jarry Park instead (on Rue Gary-Carter; I like that).
Probably not a good idea to call it the Tamtreal Rapos.
Probably not, but the Ex-Rays has a ring to it.
I think the idea, if this actually happens, is definitely to build a new baseball only stadium in Montreal. But I agree, in that case it makes sense just to move the team there.
I think I read there are contractual obligations that require the team stay in Tampa Bay at least part time.
They just cracked that same joke during the Cubs/Mets game
Ah… the good old days. Such fun to watch Bryce strike out on a 58-foot slider. So glad he’s taken his act up the road to Philly…
The Mets have taken a long look at the current state of their team and apparently decided that the problem is the pitching coach, and the fact that he was not alive during the Great Depression. But fortunately they’ve remedied that, so everything should be fine now.
Somehow I missed the story from the offseason of them hiring the agent of 7 of their players to be the GM. I read about it like 3 weeks ago and I’m still agog.
don’t think Montreal will build a stadium for a part time team unless it’s 80% of the games. and then Tampa probably won’t want a team for 20%.
I don’t see a split season between two cities as being practical. I say if Montreal can deliver a new stadium within say five years, the Rays should move there in 2020. They have a good team and can’t draw. I think the Tampa experiment didn’t pan out, time to move on. My preference for a team name would be the Expos, though the exposition is more than 50 years ago. But maybe the Nationals own that trademark, then how about Alouettes to mimic the CFL team?
I’d prefer “Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys,” but I don’t think it’d fit on the jersey