Breaking News: MLB owners vote to contract two teams
Nov. 6, 2001
As one Canadian team celebrates a World Series championship, another could be on the chopping block.
At their quarterly meeting in Chicago today, baseball owners voted 28-2 to contract, fold or buyout two of the league's 30 teams before the start of the 2002 season. The teams are yet to be determined, but it is believed the leading candidates are the Montreal Expos and Minnesota Twins.
The Toronto Blue Jays just finished off the San Francisco Giants in six games for the World Series title. The Expos won the NL East by a game over the Atlanta Braves but were swept by the Giants in the NLDS. Despite the success of this year's team, baseball interest has steadily faded in Montreal since the strike of 1994. Montreal provided one of the two dissenting votes in today's owners meeting.
The Major League Baseball Players' Association is expected to quickly file a grievance claiming that the owners' vote to contract two teams violates the current collective bargaining agreement.
Stay tuned as more information on this story develops...