Baseball back in Montréal; for two nights at least

Baseball, right back where it should be: Montréal.

Almost ten years ago, on Sept. 29, 2004, I was at the last Major League Baseball game in Montréal.

Or so I thought.

Tonight, the Toronto Blue Jays hosted the New York Mets for the first of two spring training games at Olympic Stadium, and the atmosphere was electric. The negativity that seemed to permeate media coverage of the Expos during their last days in the city was gone.

Instead, there was jealousy...

Envious of the baseball scribes in Montreal tonight. What a great city. Hope baseball returns there.
— Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) March 29, 2014

and appreciation of what the crowd meant ...

Attendance in Montreal tonight: 46,121. Speaks for itself.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) March 29, 2014

(A crowd of nearly 50,000 is expected on Saturday.)

Even casual baseball fans in Montreal's traditional rival of Toronto were happy with tonight's outcome:

Miss watching baseball at the Big O. But even more, I miss watching the Expos play there. #BringBackTheMontrealExpos
— Phil Kane (@philistweeting) March 29, 2014

The atmosphere was compared to a playoff game.

Jays manager John Gibbons praised the "tremendous atmosphere" tonight, saying, "I did hear a lot of cheering for the Expos."
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) March 29, 2014

It was a far cry from when I was in Montréal for the last Expos game there. I had been an Expos fan for years, and an online advocate for their staying in Montréal. That day was an emotional experience, probably the last time I cried that was not connected to a relative's death. If anyone who doubted that Montréal could be a baseball city had been there, they would've changed their minds after seeing the heartfelt love the city showed their team that day.

Here's a short slideshow with some pictures I took before, during and after that final game: