As the Toronto Blue Jays aim to bring the Commissioner’s Trophy back to Canada for the first time since 1993, here’s a look at how the six other Canadian NHL cities would do with a baseball team.
With the World Series wrapping up this weekend and the NHL season in full swing, sports are truly at a fever pitch in Canada as fans across the country cheer on the Toronto Blue Jays while locking in to one of the seven NHL teams that reside north of the border.
While ice hockey clearly comes first in Canada, baseball certainly has a rich history in the country as well, with Major League Baseball first recognizing this with the addition of the Montreal Expos to the league in 1969.
The Toronto Blue Jays were then added as an expansion franchise just eight years later, with MLB hosting two Canadian teams from 1977 through the 2004 season, when the Expos were relocated to Washington, D.C. where they became the Nationals.
Though the absence of the Expos has been felt by Canadian baseball fans for the last two decades, Canadians have had a reason to get excited about the diamond once again thanks to the Blue Jays surprising pennant run.
But what if other major Canadian cities had a chance to host an MLB team, just like Montreal did for over 30 years?
In addition to the Toronto Maple Leafs, there are six other Canadian NHL franchises – the Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, Winnipeg Jets, Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens. While all of these cities have hosted at least independent minor league baseball teams at one point or another, their potential ability to serve as the home of an MLB team widely vary.
With there of course already being an MLB team in Toronto that will not be going anywhere, this list will focus on the six Canadian NHL cities that currently do not have an MLB team.
6. Winnipeg, Manitoba
The home of NHL’s Jets, Winnipeg would decisively be the toughest Canadian NHL city for an MLB team to survive in, owing to numerous factors that have even made the Jets’ stay in Winnipeg far from seamless.
Winnipeg does have some existing baseball infrastructure, acting as the home of the independent Northern League’s Winnipeg Goldeyes, who have been in action since 1994. As for their hockey team, Winnipeggers have had two iterations of their flagship franchise.
The original Winnipeg Jets were founded as part of the defunct World Hockey Association in 1972, later joining the NHL in 1979 and remaining there through the 1995-96 season. The franchise then moved to Arizona where they would become the Phoenix Coyotes (later Arizona Coyotes) until 2024, when the team’s assets were transferred to the new Utah Mammoth while the franchise became inactive.
Hockey returned to the city ahead of the 2011-12 season as the former Atlanta Thrashers relocated to Winnipeg and reclaimed the Jets name. While the Jets’ return to Winnipeg has been massive for the city’s fans, past attendance issues with the team showcase the difficulties the market has for professional athletes.
An MLB team in Winnipeg would certainly require a retractable roof stadium due to the city’s harsh climate, which would remain a difficult selling point for athletes and visiting fans alike. Adding in the city’s relative geographic isolation and small market with a metropolitan area population of just over 834,000, it’s nearly impossible to see an MLB team ever calling Winnipeg home.
5. Ottawa, Ontario
The capital of Canada and current home of the independent Frontier League Ottawa Titans, the Ontario-Quebec border city is often forgotten by Americans as one of the northern neighbor’s largest metropolitan areas.
While Ottawa still hosts independent league baseball, it previously served as the home of an affiliated team as well, similar to other cities higher on this list.
From 1993 to 2007, the Ottawa Lynx of the Triple-A International League called the city home, initially serving as the Triple-A affiliate of the Montreal Expos before later being affiliated with both the Baltimore Orioles and Philadelphia Phillies.
While hockey fans have strongly supported the Senators since their arrival to the NHL in 1992, the team remains towards the bottom half of the league in attendance so far this season, only ahead of the Calgary Flames when considering Canadian teams.
Just like every other Canadian city, an MLB stadium would require a retractable roof and would also likely need to have a lower capacity to ensure decent attendance numbers – especially considering the underwhelming output from the Senators.
While the Ottawa metropolitan area and city itself is the fourth-largest in Canada, the city is also notably less connected to the United States via air travel than other Canadian cities, which would make the city even tougher to sell to predominantly American players. It’s just hard to see this ever happening.
4. Edmonton, Alberta
Home to one of the NHL’s most historic non-Original Six franchises in the Edmonton Oilers, the northernmost major Canadian city also boasts a history of baseball despite not hosting a team currrently.
From 1981 until 2004, Edmonton hosted the Triple-A Edmonton Trappers, who were part of the Pacific Coast League. The Trappers won four league titles and six division titles across their 24-season span in Edmonton, and were affiliated with seven different major league franchises over the course of their history.
While the franchise was formerly owned by the owners of the city’s Canadian Football League team, the then-Edmonton Eskimos, the club was sold to a group led by Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan, who promptly moved the team to his home state of Texas, continuing the exodus of Canadian minor league teams.
The Trappers saw plenty of notable baseball names suit up for them over the years, including Dante Bichette, Eric Chavez, Jason Giambi, Johan Santana and Miguel Tejada, among others.
While there’s no question that the city fervently supports the Oilers, an MLB team would be a significantly steeper challenge. With the city’s relative geographic isolation and climate likely to turn off many American players and an airport only slightly more accessible from the U.S. than Ottawa’s, Edmonton remains an extreme longshot for an MLB team.
3. Calgary, Alberta
Canada’s third-most populous city and fifth-largest metropolitan area, Calgary has served as the home of the NHL’s Flames since 1980, with games played in the aging Scotiabank Saddledome that is scheduled to be replaced in 2027.
While an old arena and poor play have led to the lowest attendance figures of any NHL team for the Flames thus far this season, that shouldn’t be viewed as an indictment of Calgary’s ability to support a franchise.
In addition to hosting an NHL franchise for 45 years, Calgary also once hosted the Calgary Cannons of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League from 1985 to 2002, with their exit from the city kickstarting an exodus of Canadian teams from affiliated minor league baseball that continued in Edmonton and Ottawa.
The Cannons were mostly the Triple-A affiliate for the Seattle Mariners, though the franchise’s later years saw the team link with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago White Sox and Florida Marlins before their relocation to Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Although Calgary is unquestionably a longshot to ever have an NHL team, it isn’t quite as far fetched as the earlier cities on this list. Calgary is closer to the United States, has a more connected airport and offers a climate that while harsh, is not unprecedented for Americans accustomed to living in the Mountain West.
It would be a tough sell, but with continued growth of the city and the sport within Canada thanks to the success of the Blue Jays, I would consider it a non-zero chance possibility.
2. Montreal, Quebec
Okay, I know this seems ridiculous to not rank this first, but please, hear me out!
While it may seem hard to believe today, MLB expanded to Montreal before Toronto as it was the largest Canadian city and considered the cultural center of the country prior to the 1970s – the relatively recent development of Toronto being the hyper-connected global city creates a very different reality in Montreal today than when baseball first arrived in the city.
That’s not at all to say that Montreal doesn’t deserve and couldn’t support a team – it absolutely could, and I think it’s worth noting that there’s a significant gap between Calgary and Montreal when it comes to the cities’ viability for an MLB team.
Beyond years of mediocre play and being robbed of their one possibly championship-bound season thanks to the 1994 MLB players’ strike, the Expos’ cavernous home in the domed Olympic Stadium made for one of the most sterile environments in all of professional sports, undoubtedly a huge factor in the team’s ghastly attendance numbers.
With baseball at arguably its highest popularity ever in Canada along with a worldwide insatiable thirst for nostalgia, there’s no doubt that the return of the Expos would be lauded by fans both in and out of Montreal.
Yet with that said, there remains difficulties. In addition to the need of a new stadium, the city and province’s language barrier and colder climate may also prove to be an extra challenge in recruiting players and visiting fans alike.
1. Vancouver, British Columbia
It may seem a bit wild, but it’s simply time.
A large, cosmopolitan city that currently hosts the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks and Major League Soccer’s Vancouver Whitecaps, bringing the MLB to B.C. feels like a logical next step for the Pacific Northwest metropolis.
With the third-largest metropolitan area in the country, close proximity to the United States and a remarkably mild climate for Canadian standards, Vancouver has all the pieces in place to be the most minor adjustment for all involved when adding another Canadian team.
Considering the city’s continued growth in recent decades, it’s also reasonable to believe the city deserves another shot at a major team, especially after the successes of the Whitecaps. The city previously served as the home of NBA’s Vancouver Grizzlies from 1995 to 2001, with the team relocating to Memphis after six horrendous seasons of on-court action.
Additionally, Vancouver is the home of the High-A Vancouver Canadians, the sole remaining affiliated Canadian minor league baseball team that has been the High-A affiliate of the Blue Jays since 2011. This has sparked a rivalry between the Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners, with Blue Jays fans from B.C. often making the trip to Seattle.
This also offers the league two more incentives – it reduces Seattle’s disproportionate travel while also creating a natural rivalry with the Mariners, as Vancouver and Seattle share a general rivalry with each other as cities.
I’d also be remiss to not mention the contributions British Columbians have made to baseball, with the province only second to Ontario when it comes to prominent baseball names. Larry Walker, Justin Morneau, Ryan Dempster, Rich Harden and Nick Pivetta are among notable MLB players to have hailed from B.C.
With nearly unmatched scenery, pleasant weather and a globally connected city, a team in Vancouver would be both a smashing success for local fans and a top destination for traveling baseball fans across the continent.
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