St-Hyacinthe, PQ – Following the recent announcements made iby the government and public health, the Quebec Major Baseball League has decided to postpone the start of their 2021 season and to shorten the number of games that will be played.
The Province and Coalition Avenir Québec MNA Isabelle Charest announced spectators will not be able to attend outdoor, competitive sports events until June 25. Thus, the LBMQ announced that it is on this date that the launch of the 20th season will take place.
The planned schedule of 28 games starting at the beginning of June will therefore be revised to have 22 games per team. As planned, the official opening game will be played on the grounds of last season’s champions, the Cactus de Victoriaville, which will host the finalists, the Cascades de Shawinigan.
The decision on fan attendance is perplexing to many team owners, including to François Lécuyer, the owner and president of the Sherbrooke Expos and Thetford Blue Sox. In a recent statement in the Sherbroke Record he said, “it makes no sense whatsoever,” considering people can go to movie theatres, concert halls, and the Bell Centre. There are stadiums in the LBMQ that can hold between 1,000 to 7,000 spectators. The league needs people to attend games, even if it is at a limited capacity, if it plans to survive another season filled with COVID-19 restrictions and safety regulations.”
The league also announced that their playoff format will remain the same, but that all 10 teams must reorganize their schedules accordingly to meet the new compressed time frame of the regular season. “It is certain that we did not wish to have an even more reduced schedule, but unfortunately, we have to deal with the reality of the moment,” commented Commissioner Daniel Bélisle. “The all-star party scheduled for 1 st July will also be removed from the activities of the 20th ,” he concludes.
For more details on the LBMQ, please visit https://www.lbmq.ca/
