The Pirates will sail north of the border next year, capping their 2017 spring-training schedule with two exhibitions against the Toronto Blue Jays at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium. They will play at 7:05 p.m. March 31 and 1:05 p.m. April 1, days before their April 3 season opener in Boston against the Red Sox.
The series, announced Wednesday by Montreal mayor Denis Coderre, will mark the fourth consecutive year baseball has returned to the former home of the Montreal Expos. Crowds numbered 106,102 for the Blue Jays’ 2016 spring series against the Boston Red Sox.
Manager Clint Hurdle recalled watching Rusty Staub — nicknamed “Le Grande Orange” — in his Expos days, and Hurdle made a handful of starts at Olympic Stadium as a player.