BASEBALL. It is on the field of the last defending champions, the Cascades Go Sport of Shawinigan, that the Quebec Major Baseball League (LBMQ) season will begin on Saturday, May 14, while the finalists, the Pirates of St -Jean-sur-le-Richelieu will be the visitors.
The LBMQ held its annual general meeting on February 26 to discuss various issues. The 10 teams from last year will be back in the LBMQ and the two divisions will remain intact. Each of the 10 teams will play 30 regular season games. Four against the rivals of their own division, two against the opposing division in addition to adding a home and away series against a natural rivalry and finally, two confrontations at home against the U17 and U16 teams of the Baseball Canada Academy.
For the playoffs, it was announced that the general classification will not be redone until the semi-finals. In the past, it could happen that teams had to face a team from the opposing division before the final, so the governors decided to reduce the possibilities of transport before the presentation of the final.
Also, the LBMQ has decided not to accept the suggestion to present a part of the stars in Sorel. The discussions around the event were not unanimous in the group, even if the project was interesting as a whole. The recommended date of the end of July became problematic for logistics before the playoffs scheduled for mid-August. In addition, since the last two seasons during the COVID have severely tested the organizations financially, it was therefore decided that the LBMQ was not going to represent Quebec at the next Canadian Championship which will be presented in Sidney, Nova Scotia.
The Cascades also made a trade with the Montreal Jets. Simon Brisebois moves to the Jets organization in return for two third-round draft picks in 2022 and 2023. Brisebois played 5 seasons in the LBMQ, three with St-Jérôme and two with St-Jean-sur-Richelieu. He has a career batting average of .323 with 23 home runs and 114 RBIs.
