MONTREAL—For the fifth spring in a row, the Blue Jays are finishing up their exhibition schedule with a pair of games at Olympic Stadium. This show of support for the city is in large part financial for the Jays. But it’s also an important showcase for supporters of the major-league game in Montreal, with an ultimate goal of bringing a team to the city the Expos left 14 years ago.

This annual exhibition series will never make up for the fact that, in 2001, the Jays supported commissioner Bud Selig’s contraction plan in two cities, Minneapolis and Montreal. And even though it never went through, the subsequent sale of the Expos to Major League Baseball accelerated the downward spiral that ended with the team packing up and leaving town.

This is a hiccup year. Is Montreal’s enthusiasm for the return of the Expos petering out? Attendance at the Big O will be half what it had been the first four years of this annual visit. How big a problem is that, and will the Jays continue to play these series in the future? Commissioner Rob Manfred is a fan of expansion by two cities, but MLB will wait until the Rays and the A’s settle all their issues, led by new stadiums.

The timing of this year’s series hasn’t helped. The change from a weekend to Monday and Tuesday nights was forced upon organizers when the start of the regular season was switched from Sunday night to Thursday. The Jays are expected to draw about 25,000 each night here, down from what has routinely been close to 50,000. Still, 50,000 fans for two exhibition games between teams that do not call the host city home is solid support. Consider that Tampa Bay played 78 of its 80 home dates in 2017 in front of paid crowds of less than 25,000. And those games counted.

But there are perception problems for the return of big-league baseball. Yes, there is still the important financial support of successful businessmen like Stephen Bronfman and Mitch Garber, who have been constant cheerleaders of the Expos dream. But a huge blow came late last year when the face of the expansion/relocation bid, Mayor Denis Coderre, was defeated in a re-election bid by challenger Valerie Plante.

Expos supporters had relied on the cheerleading of Coderre and his contagious enthusiasm. He even flew to New York for an unofficial visit to meet with Manfred, who advised him to tone down the rhetoric and line up plans for a new stadium before anything else. He did.

Then came the victory by Plante, a dog lover and self-proclaimed “soccer girl.” Part of Plante’s campaign had included a finger-pointing accusation that Coderre and the baseball group were going behind taxpayers’ backs and spending public money they didn’t have. After her win, despite tepidly proclaiming she “likes baseball,” Plante has put off a voter referendum for four more years. Garber argued last November on CBC’s Daybreak that a voter referendum might not be necessary.

“Maybe the (financial) demands on the city are so minimal that there’s no need to get the entire city to be coming out to vote for baseball,” Gerber said. “If most of the money is being put in by private individuals and there’s a real benefit to the city, I don’t see the real need for it at that point.”

Traditionally in Canada, but more and more in the U.S., the allocation of public money to build stadiums and otherwise prop up local sports teams has become an easily-defeated referendum. Voters are more concerned about everyday economic issues, funding needs that are important to the general public — hospitals, schools, etc. — rather than paying for stadiums. And situations like former Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria getting three levels of government to build his team a new stadium and then dismantling the club? Those occurrences do not sit well with voters.

All that being said, the choice of this year’s Jays opponent — the St. Louis Cardinals — did not have much appeal in Montreal. What is always more of an attraction are the pre-game ceremonies that usually feature a variety of former Expos stars. This year’s list includes Larry Parrish, Ellis Valentine, John Wetteland, Ken Hill, Steve Rogers, Darrin Fletcher, Jose Vidro and Derek Aucoin. Unfortunately, Le Grand Orange, Rusty Staub, was scheduled to be here, but the 74-year-old remained home in Florida battling a critical illness.

The Jays did not bring Josh Donaldson or Devon Travis on the trip among key position players because of the poor playing surface at the Big O, which is actually the MLS Impact practice field rolled out onto the stadium floor.

There are just a couple of more roster decisions to be made, to get down to the opening-day 25, with some obvious disablements still out there.

Catcher Russ Martin, a hometown hero in Montreal, is forever a media darling at these events but, coincidentally or not, has had slow April starts offensively after the intense requirements that are placed upon him in Montreal.

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As for the diminished attendance at Olympic Stadium this year, maybe it’s just a reflection of what the Jays should be expecting when they get home for the first week of games against the Yankees and the White Sox.

The Jays have had five straight losing Aprils and they will need to change that and break quickly from the gate to overcome the ill-advised decision to increase season ticket prices after a 76-win season in 2017.