MONTREAL – This summer, the City of Montreal will finally be home to new baseball team – but it won’t be the Montreal Expos.
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Monday morning, Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre announced the Brewers de Sainte-Thérèse will be moving to Montreal.
“What we’re sending as a strong message, is that you have a city, you have citizens that at every level wants to celebrate the love for sports and the love for that sport,” said Coderre.
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The Brewers are one of the nine teams in the senior Quebec Major Baseball League, which was founded in 2002.
Coderre said the acquisition was done to bring more baseball to Montreal, and it’s also a step to show Major League Baseball (MLB) that Montreal is ready for its team back.
“The strategy that I put up together at first was to show our love for baseball – show that even at the other levels, at the grass root level, that we’re doing our homework,” he said.
The Brewers home field will be at Parc Clémentine-de-la-Rousselière in Pointe-aux-Trembles, about 30 minutes from downtown Montreal.
Some Montrealers told Global News it’s a little far, but Coderre said the distance shouldn’t matter.
“Now, we’re gonna talk about boroughs, whether it’s far or not?” he asked.
“No, let’s focus. We have baseball, let’s celebrate. We should all help our team by cheering for them and I’ll be there for the first game.”
Regardless, the team hopes Montrealers will show up and support them.
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“If you love baseball, you’re gonna love to come,” said Montreal Brewers head coach and player, François-Alexandre Tambossa.
“You don’t have to love the Brewers of Montreal, if you just want to see a good game of baseball, you’re gonna have it.”
The Brewers will play 36 games this season, with the first one in early June.
Tickets will cost around $5.
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