黑料福利社

VANCOUVER, B.C. 鈥� Nat Bailey Stadium sits tucked at the base of a tree-laden hillside across from Queen Elizabeth Park a few miles away from the skyscrapers that paint the downtown Vancouver skyline. On a blue-sky evening, like a Thursday night in late April, the rays of the setting sun trickle through the trees and bathe the field in a golden glow.

The ballpark is celebrating its 75^th anniversary this season and for generations has served as the home of pro baseball in British Columbia. It鈥檚 old in the best ways. You can smell the wood of the exposed planks on the underside of the roof supported by steel beams and covers most of the seating bowl around home plate. The thick, concrete stairs feel heavy in the legs walking up and down to the bench seats.

鈥淚t鈥檚 got the history. It鈥檚 got the look. It鈥檚 got the nostalgia of being an old venue,鈥� said Allan Bailey, the general manager of the single-A Vancouver Canadians. 鈥淓very single team that comes here, every single rover that comes here for the Blue Jays or any of the visiting teams, they love this place. They love the atmosphere, they love the fans.鈥�

Outside of the Rogers Centre in Toronto where the Blue Jays play, 鈥淭he Nat,鈥� as it鈥檚 affectionately called, is the only other home for baseball in Canada under the umbrella of Major League Baseball.

At least, for now.

There鈥檚 been a lot of buzz recently about professional sports in the Vancouver area, most of it centered on and the concerns they could move.

But after quietly brewing for the last few years, there鈥檚 become more noise lately about Vancouver putting together a bid for an MLB expansion franchise when the league decides it鈥檚 ready to expand.

The Vancouver City Council recently put forth by the city鈥檚 mayor, Ken Sim, to initiate a bid process by the city to identify prospective ownership groups. The Globe and Mail, one of Canada鈥檚 largest news organizations, and that actor Ryan Reynolds, a Vancouver native, . There鈥檚 a stadium site already from the 2010 Winter Games and could have a backdrop of the downtown skyline and the North Shore Mountains.

The consensus is this isn鈥檛 a fledgling effort.

鈥淰ancouver should become the next home of a Major League Baseball team,鈥� Sim wrote on social media last month.

But do they have the wherewithal? And is there enough of a foundational fanbase in the Vancouver area for a franchise to be successful?

And locally here, could there be an impact on the Mariners?

鈥淚 think that baseball in Vancouver would be amazing,鈥� said former Mariners pitcher and Ladner, B.C. native James Paxton. 鈥淚 know that players would love to live there. It's a beautiful city. It's a great place to live, especially the summers are amazing.鈥�

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We see seemingly every year when a caravan of Blue Jays fans stream across the border and make T-Mobile Park their home for a handful of days. Not all those fans are coming from the Vancouver metro area, but the vast majority are.

The appetite for baseball appears to be there.

鈥淲e are supportive of any effort to grow baseball in Canada, and that would include the opportunity to bring MLB to Vancouver,鈥� Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro told Sportsnet.

Paxton said he鈥檚 seen significant growth for baseball in the region, even if he鈥檚 no longer living 20 kilometers south of 鈥淭he Nat鈥� 鈥� the ballpark his grandparents would take him to as a kid. His hometown just built an indoor baseball facility for kids to play year around rather than needing to drive to a neighboring city, for example.

A major league team in the area would only accelerate that growth.

鈥淚 think that there's lots of kids like that up there that are just looking for an avenue,鈥� Paxton said. 鈥淲hen big league teams come into town, they do outreach and stuff like that, and it motivates kids, gives them a real look close to home. I think it would really help the baseball in the area.鈥�

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To be fair, all conversations are speculative for now. Commissioner Rob Manfred has said he wants to see expansion happen before his tenure ends, but baseball has several issues to work through before it gets to discussing adding teams, starting with the labor strife expected this offseason.

But Vancouver as a potential MLB expansion location creates an interesting wrinkle for the Mariners. For years, regional attention on expansion centered on what might be happening in Portland and the various proposals that emerged out of the Rose City.

The Mariners have never expressed their feelings about those talks in Portland, but the club holds significant territorial rights across a large swathe of Oregon. The M鈥檚 territorial rights are among the largest in baseball across Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska. A team in Portland would seem to significantly change that landscape.

But on the surface, a team in Vancouver might create less of an impact. The M鈥檚 do have a small amount of rights in Western Canada, but they鈥檙e dwarfed by the Blue Jays. When and if expansion happens, it's also expected to create divisional realignment and might reduce some of the M鈥檚 travel. That could be enticing.

From a fan perspective, there is a foundation of Mariners fans in the Vancouver area, but the vast majority follow the Blue Jays. Bailey, who is in his 20^th season working for the Canadians, noted that when the franchise became an affiliate of the Blue Jays in 2011, there was a notable bump in attendance and general interest.

鈥淚 think there was that national connection between the one major league club and us at the time, and still are the only minor league team in Canada. There鈥檚 something to be said for that and there's the pride of the patriotism of the national team, that connection,鈥� Bailey said.

Paxton, who retired after pitching for Canada in the World Baseball Classic and recently addressed , noted one consideration that might give Vancouver an advantage if the conversations evolve is the significant Asian population in the Lower Mainland and MLB鈥檚 continued strong ties with Asian markets.

鈥淪omething that baseball has that maybe basketball or soccer wouldn't tap into as much is that Asian market,鈥� Paxton said. 聽聽

From a market standpoint, Vancouver does make sense. The western North American cities most discussed regarding MLB expansion are typically Salt Lake City and Portland. Yet Vancouver鈥檚 market size and metro area of 3.10 million residents easily outdistances Portland (2.29 million) and dwarfs Salt Lake City (1.3 million).

For now, all the baseball talk is conjecture until the league says it鈥檚 ready to expand. Back at 鈥淭he Nat,鈥� Bailey鈥檚 focus is on creating the best experience for the different generations that show up at the park to see the next wave of prospects who may someday become major league stars.

鈥淚've been coming to 鈥楾he Nat鈥� since the early 鈥�90s and it's definitely been a place for people to call home for a long time,鈥� Bailey said. 鈥淎nd the baseball side is almost secondary. It's a huge social experiment for everyone involved, and you see it with the fans, you see with the staff every year they come back. It's pretty special.鈥�