Gallagher: Manfred would love to see a Canadian expansion team

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said the next round of expansion could include a team from Canada. Photo: MLB.com

October 24, 2025

By Danny Gallagher

Players on Base

Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said the next round of expansion could include a team from Canada.

In a chat with Sportsnet's Blair and Barker show on Thursday, Manfred said "another city in Canada clearly could work for us" when asked about the possibility of adding a franchise in Vancouver.

"I'm hopeful that once we get through the next round of bargaining, we can turn to an active expansion process, where cities start to submit materials to the committee and we try to pick two cities," Manfred said.

"We definitely need an eastern time zone city and we need a western time zone city, just for format purposes. Even if you don't realign, you still want to do this.''

Montreal has been mentioned many times as a possible expansion city along with Nashville, Charlotte, N.C., Austin, Tex., Portland, Ore., Salt Lake City and even Mexico City.

Manfred told Jeff Blair and Kevin Barker that he was appreciative of Western Canada's passion for baseball.

"I think Vancouver's a great city," Manfred said. "I think that Canada has been unbelievably supportive of Major League Baseball. I can't say enough about the support that the Blue Jays have received. I happened to be in Western Canada this summer. I was absolutely blown away by the Blue Jays gear, the talk about the Blue Jays, how into it they are.

"The Seattle club will tell you, the best series they have year in and year out is when the Blue Jays come to visit and a ton of people from Canada come over to watch the games."

The Montreal-based Players on Base group is actively seeking investors to get involved with an expansion bid.