With a total of just 224 to defend Virat Kohli admitted the dressing had "doubts" about what would happen. The India captain was also honest about their batting not going to according to plan because some of his men had played "horizontal" bat shots on a pitch that demanded they play straight.

On a sunny Saturday, Kohli had no qualms in electing to bat and wanted to put up a score well above 250. But as the game progressed, and the slow nature of the pitch and a quality Afghanistan attack challenged the Indian batsmen, Kohli said they had to recalculate.

"You expect yourself to win the toss and put up big runs on the board," Kohli told the host broadcaster after India's narrow 11-run win, wrapped up by a Mohammad Shami hat-trick off the penultimate ball of the match. "Then you see the nature of the pitch slowing down drastically with three wrist spinners [Rashid Khan, Rahmat Shah and Mujeeb Ur Rahman]. We thought 250-260 would have been par, but 270 would have been outstanding effort."

Watch on Hotstar (India only): Highlights of Kohli's fifty

Barring Kohli, who made his third half-century of the World Cup, every other Indian batsman struggled to find rhythm. Rohit Sharma was clueless against the carom ball from Mujeeb. KL Rahul abruptly played a reverse sweep and paid the price. Vijay Shankar attempted a sweep, tempted by the empty area at fine leg, but was lbw. MS Dhoni's dot-ball kitty swelled once again before he charged Rashid in desperation and was stumped. Kedar Jadhav played a scrappy and unconvincing innings.

Only Kohli displayed dominance over the bowlers as he rotated strike with ease before he cut a ball that bounced sharply and took his leading edge. Kohli admitted India's shot selection was not good on the day.

"As soon as I went in I understood the pace of the pitch. I thought cross-batted shots are not on on this pitch at all. You've got to play with a straight bat [and because of that] I was able to rotate strike. Our shot selection could have been much better - a lot of horizontal bat shot costs us a lot of wickets. You can't really take the game away from the opposition, you'll have to respect the pace of the pitch and knock the ball around for ones and twos and work yourself into an innings. But once you lose wickets on a pitch like that with three quality wristspinners…"

"They really put some pressure on us in the middle overs. A team like Afghanistan who have a lot of talent doesn't let you play the way you want to play."

What then was India's plan at the innings break? Kohli said it was to have the "collective belief" and the bowling attack showed plenty, led by Jasprit Bumrah, Shami and Yuzvendra Chahal. "At halfway mark, we did have some sort of doubts in our minds [about] what's going to happen in the game, but everyone had belief in the change room. Everyone had collective belief that we can win this one.

"This game was way more important for us. It didn't go as planned, but when things don't go your way you need to show character and bounce back and fight till the last ball. That shows the character of our team."

West Indies were down. They were supposed to be out. The crowd in Manchester was packing up. But then came the sound. Ball hitting bat. And flying into the stands. Carlos Brathwaite was in one of his bowler-bashing, reality-defying six frenzies. And he nearly pulled off one of THE greatest ODI chases of all time. This is when the madness was at its peak.

Varun Shetty is on ball-by-ball commentary. West Indies are nine down, still needing 33 off 18 balls. Matt Henry comes on.

47.1 Henry to Brathwaite, 2 runs, miscued pull but he has managed to drag it to deep square's right. Too early through this shot as he tries to drag the short ball from wide outside off

47.2 Henry to Brathwaite, SIX, clears long-on! Flat-bats it and hardly gets height on this, but he's got plenty of distance. Literally swipes from above waist height

47.3 Henry to Brathwaite, SIX, and another! It is no longer a clear New Zealand advantage! Low full toss wide outside off. Reaches out and gets bat - just enough bat - to get it to land on the padding at deep backward point!

Ohhh boy! Conference - four man conference. New Zealand are feeling this. Matt Henry is feeling this. He began this England tour conceding 107 in the first warm-up game. He's been here - West Indies taking him apart. It's happening again. Can he hold his nerve? It's a packed off side field, it's going to full and outside off

47.4 Henry to Brathwaite, SIX, it is too full! It is too far outside off! Knee high full toss with lots of width and he smokes it over wide long-off! Unreal. How does he keep finding himself in these situations, and doing this? Three in a row.

What now for Brathwaite?

47.5Henry to Brathwaite, FOUR, top edge clears the wicketkeeper! Heart in the mouth, but the fortune is all his, it seems! Bouncer cramps him at the chest. He has no control over this shot. But it's trickled through to the third man boundary. 24 off the over!

47.6 Henry to Brathwaite, 1 run, lofted to third man's right and he will keep strike! Short outside off and he holds his composure

Wow. How does he keep finding himself in these situations? 25 off the over. Eight required off two overs. He's on 99. Will it be CDG or Neesham for the 49th? It's Neesham

48.1 Neesham to Brathwaite, no run, short of a length outside off, watchfully tapped to extra cover

48.2 Neesham to Brathwaite, no run, beaten! Whew. Short and wide outside off. Backs away and has a swipe but it some distance away from connection

Surely he's thinking 8 off 4

48.3 Neesham to Brathwaite, no run, beaten again. Short and wide outside off. Once again he's gone for the pull. Misses again

Point, cover comes in, extra cover, mid-off in

48.4 Neesham to Brathwaite, 2 runs, pulls out to deep midwicket and comes back for the second! What. An. Innings. He doesn't get to do a lot very often, down at No. 8. But every time he finds himself in this situation, he shines through. A hundred. An unlikely win in sight. Takes his helmet off, blows a kiss. Back to it.

48.5 Neesham to Brathwaite, no run, legcutter, short and spinning past off stump as he shapes to pull and is deceived again. Beaten. This is a great over from Neesham

48.6 Neesham to Brathwaite, OUT, has he done it? No! Boult plucks it at long-on! Two drops for Boult since the last game, but he's held on when it's mattered! They're checking for no-ball...it's well behind the line. This is heartbreak for Brathwaite. So close. Short ball at middle, he pulled it, but slightly from under again. Ended up slicing it, with no room. It was to Boult's right. He leaped, he held on, he balanced on his right foot. That is solid work under pressure. Both batsmen on their knees, and then Brathwaite gets up with a smile. He did his all, and then some. But it was always unlikely. And you feel like he knows that. Smiles from his opponents as they offer their commiserations. It's all shakes. It could have so easily been the other way round...

CR Brathwaite c Boult b Neesham 101 (117m 82b 9x4 5x6) SR: 123.17

New Zealand 291 for 8 (Williamson 148, Taylor 69, Cottrell 4-56) beat West Indies 286 (Brathwaite 101, Gayle 87, Hetmyer 54, Boult 4-30, Ferguson 3-59) by 5 runs
As it happened

We've had Sri Lanka, the No. 9-ranked team that came to the World Cup in utter disarray, stunning No. 1 side England. We've had Afghanistan coming within a couple of hits of upsetting India.

Neither of those results, however, will live on as the defining memory of these last two days.

Watch on Hotstar (India only): Full match highlights

West Indies, chasing 292 against New Zealand at Old Trafford, were 164 for 7. Then 211 for 8. And 245 for 9. But Carlos Brathwaite wouldn't be defeated. He saw off the tenth overs of Trent Boult and Lockie Ferguson, New Zealand's best and most dangerous bowlers on the day, with a bit of help from the No. 11 Oshane Thomas.

Then, with 33 needed off the last three overs, he tore into Matt Henry. There was a sweet, baseball-style swat over long-on, a mighty drive high over extra-cover. There was a fortuitous slice wide of third man and a top-edge over the keeper too, but no one - perhaps not even the New Zealanders - will have begrudged him a bit of luck: 2, 6, 6, 6, 4, and an all-important last-ball single to keep the strike, smartly steered to third man. Brathwaite ended the over on 99, with West Indies eight runs from victory.

New Zealand had used up their main bowling options, so they went with their fifth bowler, James Neesham, for the 49th.

Fifth bowler against one of the game's most dangerous hitters, a man with the winds of an otherworldly performance in his sails, a man with the winds of history in his sails. Remember the name?

But Neesham's slower ball kept him on tenterhooks. Two swipes and misses. Then a pulled double to bring up three figures. Only six needed. One hit.

Last ball of the 49th was in Brathwaite's arc: a touch short of a length, angling into him but not so much that he doesn't have swinging room. Big swing, and a pretty sweet connection.

But not sweet enough, not far enough to the right of Trent Boult, sprinting from long-on. He was leaning over the boundary rope when he caught the ball, his feet inches away from it. Inches. That's how close it ended up.

Take away Brathwaite, however, and the gap between the two sides was much wider - the width of the gap between ODI cricket and T20. Already once in this tournament, against Australia, West Indies lost from a position of strength thanks to the spirit of T20 creeping too far into their ODI game.

It happened again on Saturday. Chasing 292, West Indies were 142 for 2 after 22 overs, with a pair of half-centurions at the crease. New Zealand had been erratic with the ball; too short, too wasteful. They had missed vital chances in the outfield.

For West Indies, the cold, hard ODI approach would have been to keep New Zealand on the ropes, and give them no opening. The fields were defensive by necessity, and singles were available if the batsmen wanted them. But Shimron Hetmyer and Chris Gayle kept taking the high-risk option. That approach had brought them the bulk of their runs, but it had also kept them on the edge: Gayle had only just been dropped twice in an over. But they kept swinging, even though a top-order batsman, Evin Lewis, was nursing a hamstring injury and hadn't batted yet, and couldn't be expected to contribute too much. They kept swinging, opened the door for Ferguson's clever changes of pace, and 142 for 2 became 164 for 7.

The first two-thirds of Brathwaite's innings, spent mostly in the company of Kemar Roach and Sheldon Cottrell, was all about smart, sensible ODI batting: he watched the ball, read the field settings, assessed the risks, and rebuked his team-mates with the ease of his run-scoring in excellent batting conditions. In the end, he had to reach into his T20 kitbag, but, unlike his team-mates, only out of necessity.

The first half of the match was far less dramatic, but that's because Kane Williamson doesn't do drama. Sheldon Cottrell, bowling full and swinging the ball dangerously, took out both openers, and that set the tone for the early part of Williamson's innings, in the company of Ross Taylor. They ensured New Zealand saw off the new balls without further loss, and the score inched to 36 for 2 in 12 overs before the strokes began to flow around the ground.

There were trademark Taylor pulls with a whip of the bottom wrist, trademark Williamson drives between mid-off and extra-cover, and a contest between the two as to who could play the prettier straight drive. At the 30-over mark, New Zealand were 144 for 2.

From there on, the old ODI adage of doubling your 30-over score if you have wickets in hand worked a charm. Taylor fell for 69, failing to clear mid-off, but Williamson, who came into this game with scores of 79 not out and 106 not out in his last two innings, stretched his run of un-dismissed run-scoring to 333, off 390 balls, before he top-edged Cottrell in the 47th over. There was lower-order biffing from Neesham, Colin de Grandhomme and Mitchell Santner too, and New Zealand ended up with what looked, at that point, like an anyone's-game kind of total.

For the first third of West Indies' chase, it seemed hardly adequate. Then it looked more than enough. And then, Carlos Brathwaite happened.

ARCADIA, Calif. -- Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer was banned by the ownership of Santa Anita on Saturday after a fourth horse from his stable died -- and the 30th overall -- at the Southern California track.

The Stronach Group, which owns the track, said in a statement that effective immediately Hollendorfer "is no longer welcome to stable, race or train his horses at any of our facilities."

On the recommendation of a special panel convened to review horses' medical, training and racing history, the track's stewards scratched four horses trained by Hollendorfer that were entered to run Saturday and Sunday.

A 4-year-old gelding trained by Hollendorfer was injured Saturday while exercising on the training track and was euthanized. It was the first death of the meet on the training track, which isn't used for racing.

It was the 30th death since the racing season began Dec. 26. The track closes for the season Sunday.

Hollendorfer couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

However, he told the Daily Racing Form, "I'm training over 100 horses right now. Santa Anita didn't want me stay on the grounds. My opinion was that was a premature thing to do. I thought it was extreme. Now I have to step away for a while."

Hollendorfer has 7,617 winners from 33,519 starters and purse earnings of $199,737,768 in his career, according to Equibase.com.

He has three wins in the Breeders' Cup and none in the Triple Crown races. His best finish with seven Kentucky Derby starters was third in 2017 with Battle of Midway. That colt sustained a fatal injury during a workout at Santa Anita on Feb. 23.

Hollendorfer's first horse to die at the meet was a 4-year-old gelding on Dec. 30 after a race on the dirt.

It wasn't immediately known whether Hollendorfer will be allowed to race at Los Alamitos in Orange County when that meet opens June 29 or at Del Mar near San Diego, which opens July 17. Neither track is owned by The Stronach Group.

A 9-year-old gelding named Kochees trained by Hollendorfer was euthanized on May 26 after injuring his left front leg in a race a day earlier.

At the time, a spokesman for The Stronach Group told The Associated Press that it was looking into whether new protocols were followed leading up to the gelding being euthanized.

The Stronach Group said in a statement Saturday it regrets that Hollendorfer's record in recent months at both Santa Anita and Golden Gate Fields in Northern California "has become increasingly challenging and does not match the level of safety and accountability we demand." Both tracks are owned by The Stronach Group; Golden Gate doesn't resume racing until Aug. 15.

The track owner said individuals who don't embrace the new rules and safety measures that put horse and rider safety above all else will have no place at any Stronach Group racetrack.

Mike Marten, spokesman for the California Horse Racing Board, said Hollendorfer's gelding American Currency injured Saturday wasn't entered to run in any race and thus wasn't subject to review by the special panel.

Kochees' injury appeared to be correctable through surgery. However, when doctors realized the horse had lost blood flow to the leg, he was euthanized.

Among the rules put in place since March, a trainer's veterinarian must sign off on a horse's fitness before the track's veterinarian also takes a look at the animal ahead of it training or racing.

"In my mind there is absolutely no doubt that we've done every single thing properly with Kochees and all the rest of our horses, too," Hollendorfer said in response to questioning by The AP on May 27. "We certainly are pretty sad when they get hurt."

The 73-year-old trainer is best known for overseeing Eclipse Award winners Blind Luck, Shared Belief and Songbird. Based in Northern California for most of his career, Hollendorfer frequently ships his horses to Southern California's tracks to run.

He's known for buying young horses at auction in the low to mid-price range, often with his own money. He then puts together ownership groups and retains a percentage of the horse while training it as well.

The Los Angeles Lakers have received permission from Golden State to talk to assistant Ron Adams about a role on Frank Vogel's staff, league sources tell ESPN.

It is unclear Adams' level of interest in the Lakers' position, but they could make the case more compelling with a significant financial offer.

The Lakers want to put together an experienced coaching staff, and the current group already includes former head coaches Lionel Hollins and Jason Kidd as assistants.

Adams, considered one of the top assistants in the NBA, just finished his fifth season on Steve Kerr's staff and 25th season overall as an NBA assistant coach.

Former Red Sox great David Ortiz has been moved out of the intensive care unit at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, his wife said in a statement Saturday.

Ortiz was shot in the back at a bar in the Dominican Republic on June 9, and was transported to Boston in order to receive medical attention there the following day.

On Tuesday, doctors at MGM upgraded the 10-time All-Star's condition from "guarded'' to "good.''

"He remains in good condition and continues to recover under the care of Drs. David King and Larry Ronan," Ortiz's wife, Tiffany, said in the statement Saturday.

Dominican prosecutors said earlier this week that Ortiz was attacked in a case of mistaken identity by a gunman who was hired to kill an auto shop owner.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

CHICAGO -- Rookie slugger Pete Alonso hit his 26th homer to set the NL record for most homers before the All-Star Game as the New York Mets routed the Chicago Cubs 10-2 on Saturday.

Alonso broke a tie with Los Angeles' Cody Bellinger (2017). He's still seven short of Mark McGwire's major league record 33 accomplished in 1987.

Todd Frazier and Wilson Ramos also homered for the Mets, who won consecutive road games for the first time in over two months.

Zack Wheeler (6-5) allowed one run on five hits in seven innings to bounce back after losing his previous two starts. The right-hander retired 15 straight batters from the second through the sixth.

Alonso went 2 for 4 with a walk and tied Darryl Strawberry (1983) for the Mets' rookie record for homers in a season.

Jeff McNeil went 2 for 4 with three RBI.

New York is 17-26 on the road this season and last won back-to-back away games on April 11 and 12 in Atlanta.

Jason Heyward went 3 for 4 as NL Central-leading Chicago dropped back-to-back home games for the first time in nearly a month.

Cubs starter Jose Quintana (4-7) was roughed up for nine runs on nine hits in 4 1/3 innings. The left-hander allowed a career-high tying three homers despite a steady wind blowing in from right to left at Wrigley Field.

Backup catcher Victor Caratini, who started at first, came in the ninth to make his fourth pitching appearance with Chicago. He tossed a 1-2-3 inning and provided a highlight with a running grab of a dribbler toward third and a jump throw to first to nail Ramos to end the inning.

New York scored in each of the first six innings. Alonso began the barrage with a solo blast in the first. McNeil made it 3-0 with two-run single in the second. Frazier's two-run homer in the third made it 5-0 and provided a comical moment.

After connecting on a 3-1 pitch, Frazier didn't think he hit it well enough to get through the wind. He tossed his bat in frustration and jogged toward first. He was surprised when it reached the bleachers and pumped his fist in celebration.

McNeil added an RBI double in the fourth to make it 6-0. In the fifth, Michael Conforto had an RBI single and Ramos followed with a two-run shot to chase Quintana.

In the sixth, Frazier drove in a run with a two-out infield single against reliever Rowan Wick to make it 10-0.

GETTING CLOSE?

After throwing a scoreless inning on Friday for Triple-A Iowa, Craig Kimbrel was scheduled to pitch again Saturday night to go back-to-back for the first time since finalizing a three-year, $43 million deal with the Cubs on June 7.

If all goes well, Kimbrel's next outing could be in the majors.

"We'll see how he feels in a couple of days," manager Joe Maddon said. "That'll be very indicative of what we can or cannot do, or when."

TRAINER'S ROOM

Mets: RHP Noah Syndergaard (right hamstring) was scheduled to throw a bullpen on Saturday. He is eligible to come off the 10-day injured list on Wednesday . INF Jed Lawrie (left knee and hamstring) is doing some baseball activities, but it's unclear when he'll be ready for rehab games. "It sounds like they're treating the left leg from the hip all the way

down to the knee," manager Mickey Callaway said. "It's improving. We just don't have a timeline."

UP NEXT

Mets ace Jacob deGrom (4-6, 3.26 ERA) faces Cubs lefty Cole Hamels (6-2, 2.85) in the finale of the four-game series on Sunday. After taking a two-hitter into the ninth against the Braves on Tuesday, deGrom looks for back-to-back wins. Hamels allowed one run in seven innings for a no-decision Tuesday against the White Sox.

ST. LOUIS -- The last time the Angels' Albert Pujols homered at Busch Stadium, it was a championship season. When he did it Saturday, it wasn't the World Series, but it sure felt like it.

Pujols, 39, homered in the seventh inning off Cardinals starter Dakota Hudson, setting off another celebration in a weekend that's been full of them, all for a visiting player who left St. Louis nearly eight years ago.

"Trying to walk around the bases and get to the plate, and trying to get in the dugout and hold everything in," Pujols said. "Man, that was hard.

"It's gonna be up there for me -- for my career, for my family, my wife Deidre and my five kids and my friends and family that are here in town. It's just a moment that I will treasure forever."

It was Pujols' first long ball at Busch since he left the Cardinals after helping the franchise to its 11th World Series crown in 2011. Pujols returned to the ballpark in Friday's game, kicking off two days of standing ovations, tips of the cap and, after the homer, a curtain call.

Angels manager Brad Ausmus was asked if he had ever seen a curtain call for a player on the road team in a big league game.

"No," Ausmus said, after thinking it over. "I don't believe I have."

The Cardinals won the game 4-2, which made it easier for Pujols' old friends to enjoy the reunion.

"What a special moment for him, the whole stadium and really Cardinal Nation," Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said. "Listen, he's an icon, a living legend. Very few of them have a chance to come back and perform."

Hudson said he was fine with the crowd's reaction.

"It's no disruption; the guy deserves that ovation," the pitcher said. "He's done a lot for this organization, and I think he's a staple as a Cardinal player."

It was Pujols' 111th career home run at Busch, the third venue in St. Louis to bear that name. That's 23 more than second-place Matt Holliday. It was his first time going deep in St. Louis since Sept. 22, 2011, a regular-season game against the Mets. Pujols homered five times during the Cardinals' championship run that season, but all came on the road.

Pujols' homer also set a record for dingers in interleague play, breaking the mark he shared with Hall of Famer Jim Thome (65). Pujols moved into a tie with Alex Rodriguez for the most career RBIs in interleague play with 216.

There was little doubt Pujols would make a curtain call as he rounded the bases amid a roar unheard for a player visiting the home venue of a fan base that likes to refer to itself as the best in baseball. He bounded up the steps almost immediately after returning to the dugout, setting off another round of raucous cheers.

"I came out right away," Pujols said, laughing. "I knew they were gonna wait for that. It's just a special moment."

Before that, as Pujols touched home plate, he performed his ritual of touching his chest and pointing to the sky with both hands. Standing nearby was catcher Yadier Molina, one of Pujols' former Cardinals teammates and one of his best friends. As Pujols crossed the plate, Molina literally brought him back to earth: He scooped up some dirt and threw it at Pujols.

But in this week of mass adoration in the Gateway City, Molina was only kidding around. After fessing up to the dirt toss, Molina said, "I'm happy for him."

Based on appearances at Busch Stadium on Saturday afternoon, so was the rest of St. Louis.

"Too bad we lost the game," Pujols said. "But we were able to do something special for the fans. It's been amazing."

Cincinnati Reds slugger Derek Dietrich was hit by an MLB record sixth pitch in one series, after getting nailed with a 71 mph changeup from Brewers reliever Alex Claudio in the top of the fifth inning of the division rivals' game Saturday in Milwaukee.

It's the sixth time in three games against the Brewers that Dietrich was hit by a pitch, already an MLB record for one series with one game still to be played on Sunday.

"It's funny, the guys were asking me, 'How many of those do you think you're getting hit by and how many did you try to get hit by?'" Dietrich told MLB.com following Friday's game. "I was like, 'Well, I don't really try to get hit by any of them. If they come up and in, they come up and in.' It just kind of happens. It's part of the game. I've never really shied away from it. Guys try to get out of the way. I don't try to get out of the way. I hold my ground. I stay in the box.

"Getting on base is big whether it's a walk, hit, hit by pitch, it doesn't matter. When you're on base, you're creating chaos. The way we're hitting now, it's important."

Dietrich now has been hit with 15 pitches over the course of the season, which leads the majors.

The Tampa Bay Rays' intention to explore the possibility of holding home games in the Tampa area during temperate spring months and for the remainder of the season in baseball-starved Montreal drew a reaction that can best be summed up in one word.

Huh?

That is a reasonable question. There are plenty more of those. Here are a dozen that explain what makes the Rays' plan not nearly as crazy as it may sound -- and the roadblocks standing in the way.

How likely is this to actually happen?

Put it this way: A few hours after the news broke that Major League Baseball's executive council granted permission to the Rays to pursue a two-city solution, St. Petersburg, Florida, mayor Rick Kriseman said he would not grant the team permission to discuss any proposal with Montreal. The Rays' lease with Tropicana Field, which is located in St. Petersburg, runs through 2027. "This is getting a bit silly," Kriseman said.

So, clearly, the deal is dead, right? Of course not. Kriseman is doing the exact same thing the Rays did when they pursued the idea in the first place: trying to secure the best deal. For more than a decade, Rays owner Stuart Sternberg has sought a new stadium deal from St. Petersburg, then Tampa, to replace the domed monstrosity that is the Trop. The efforts have failed.

Sharing the Rays isn't the nuclear option. That would be Sternberg announcing his intentions to relocate and trying to negotiate a way out of the lease. But this is clearly a warning -- the Rays are running out of patience, and with attendance still low despite on-field success, they believe the path to viability in the Tampa Bay area must include a new stadium. If that's in concert with a second new stadium in Montreal, it would put a significant dent in the Rays' local-revenue issues and leave other markets open for expansion.

Put it this way: If this were truly a pure leverage play, with Tampa Bay using the threat of a move as a cudgel, would MLB owners allow a potential expansion city to be straight-up used and run the risk of incensing it? Because that is in play here for Montreal if the Rays turn around, negotiate with entities in the Tampa Bay area and leave behind Stephen Bronfman and Mitch Garber, both deep-pocketed, well-connected men who desperately want baseball back in Montreal. With potential billion-dollar expansion fees at play, the last thing MLB wants to do is alienate whales who might be willing to pay it.

Why is this a good plan?

The Tampa Bay area would not lose big league baseball and Montreal would gain it. That's the very simple answer.

If the Rays are not posturing -- and again, feigning interest like this would be an awfully dangerous play for a very disciplined ownership and front office group -- then both fan bases wind up in better scenarios. Rays fans wouldn't need to go to the Trop and would have the assurance of the team having a long-term lease in place, and Montreal would have baseball for the first time since the Expos left in 2005 as well as the security that the team wouldn't leave again.

In Montreal, the Rays would find something they've longed for: a loving, fully embracing fan base. And while the concept of dual-city teams is (almost) entirely foreign, the idea of fans loving a team any less because it's not present as much doesn't compute. Montreal craves baseball. This is baseball. The city is not going to reject the Rays because they play half their games elsewhere.

Now, it's possible the Tampa Bay area doesn't want the Rays. The attendance is crummy, even when the team isn't. But it's difficult to believe that a metropolitan area as big as the Tampa Bay area would allow one of 30 teams to slip away. And that's at stake here.

What are the roadblocks?

There are plenty. All have feasible solutions that sound reasonable. Combined, though, they make the two-city solution complicated and fragile.

(1) Getting a stadium in Montreal: This is pretty far down the road. While it's not checked off the list, a potential partnership between the Rays and the Bronfman-Garber consortium is natural.

(2) Settling on a site for a stadium in the Tampa area: This has not been easy. Politicians also might not want to be the ones who let baseball leave town.

(3) Securing funding for a stadium in the Tampa area: This wouldn't be easy, either. Politicians also might not want to be the ones who let baseball leave town.

(4) Convincing the other 29 owners it is the right plan: Getting a group of billionaires on board takes plenty of work -- particularly when some of those billionaires' businesses can be impacted by yours.

(5) Solving the territorial-rights question: Is Toronto really going to let a division rival waltz right in and monopolize the country's second-largest city and, really, an entire province?

(6) Placating the players: The Rays are tired of playing in front of empty crowds at the Trop ... but are they tired enough to move midseason and pay significantly higher taxes?

(7) Selling the fans: We know what we know, and when something comes along that we don't know, it's scary.

So ... each city gets 40 games or so?

It's too early in the process to know what sort of a split would satisfy all parties. Part of the allure of sharing teams, sources said, would be taking advantage of the cities' contrasting climates. By June, average high temperatures in the Tampa area tend to climb to about 90 degrees. Avoiding similar temperatures in July, August and early September would allow a domeless stadium in the Tampa Bay area -- something that would significantly lessen costs on a stadium that could have a price tag upward of $1 billion. One potential proposal includes a soccer-style stadium, with a smaller capacity that could bring costs down to near $600 million.

Average temperatures in Montreal, on the other hand, top out around 80 degrees, even in the summer months, before dipping in mid-September. Schedule makers could theoretically go home-heavy with the Rays in the season's first half, giving the Tampa Bay area a chance to pack in Florida home games before the team migrates to Canada in June.

Why would a city build a new stadium to have a team for a partial season?

This is the multi-hundred-million-dollar question. For Montreal, the answer is fairly clear: Bronfman and Garber, who have been at the forefront of the efforts to bring baseball back to Montreal, support the split-team concept. They have secured a potential site for a stadium. They are not wedded to the idea that a baseball team must have 81 home games. While the Montreal market showed an ability to support that when Bronfman's father, Charles, owned the Expos, there is an argument that a finite number of games at an optimal time of year could juice interest.

Selling St. Petersburg, Tampa or wherever the Rays try to find a new stadium in their current metropolitan area on this seems the far more daunting task. The Rays continue to seek public money to build a new stadium in Florida, and even if the supply-and-demand play above happens to work and creates more per-game revenue for the Rays, they haven't been able to get a stadium built for 81 games. Will a city really accede with half the dates?

That's a reasonable question. It also may be secondary to another: Is the Tampa Bay area willing to let its MLB team leave?

When could this happen?

Realistically? Not particularly soon. It has taken the Rays more than a decade to reach this point because of failed stadium negotiations ... and they still would need to receive a commitment to build a stadium, not to mention wiggle out of their current stadium deal. They also would need to ensure that Montreal's half came to fruition. Not to mention all of the other potential pitfalls.

One source said 2023 is the earliest target date, though 2024 would be more realistic. And that's if everything falls into place.

How would TV rights work?

Quite well for the Rays, one would think, because they would get the benefit of multiple TV markets. The reality isn't nearly as clean: As much of a threat as the stadium situation in the Tampa Bay area is to the plan's viability, the territorial-rights issue is potentially menacing, too.

In baseball, every team is assigned a specific area to which it owns the rights to broadcast. When the Expos left, all of Canada became the Blue Jays' territory. No baseball team controls as large of an area as the Blue Jays. Teams guard their territories fiercely.

Look at what happened when the Expos moved. Even though the Nationals were in a different league, their fight with the Baltimore Orioles over television revenue continues years after it started. Not only would the Rays be encroaching on Toronto's territory, the teams both play in the American League East.

There are ways around this impediment, of course. Lots and lots and lots of loonies and toonies.

Has anybody ever tried this before?

Actually, yes. In 2003 and 2004, the Montreal Expos played 22 games in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In the early 1970s, the NBA's Kings split home games between Kansas City, Missouri, and Omaha, Nebraska. Even the White Sox took a nine-game-a-year sojourn to Milwaukee for a couple of years before the Brewers moved to town.

But something like this? Two cities, more than 1,300 miles apart, in different countries, no less? No. Definitely not for half a season.

Would the Rays actually be able to spend money on players?

Well, certainly more than they do now. The Rays' opening-day payroll was somewhere in the $65 million range, among the lowest in baseball. The reason is not just the 14,546 fans per game they draw at the Trop -- the second-lowest average in the major leagues. The Rays missed the local-television-contract boom that enriched a handful of smaller-market teams when they re-upped their deals recently.

Montreal wouldn't turn the Rays into the Yankees or Red Sox, but it would offer a robust corporate base and a rabid group of fans frothing for the return of baseball and presumably giddy to buy season tickets. No longer would the Rays have any reason to operate on the cheap.

Who would host postseason games?

In their 36-year history, the Expos made the playoffs once. In the Rays' 22-year history, they have made the playoffs four times -- and gotten out of the first round once. Let's not get ahead of ourselves now.

(The real answer, according to a source: "If they can get a deal like this done, that will be a very first-world problem.")

What would it mean for the players and their families?

Retired closer Brad Ziegler said it would never work. So did Amanda McCarthy, the wife of longtime pitcher Brandon McCarthy. Kaycee Sogard, whose husband, Eric, plays for the Blue Jays, said: "This is what baseball-wife nightmares are made of."

Polarizing as the two-city solution is writ large, it might bring out the biggest chasm among those directly affected by it. That said: It's not an impossible sell for players. Greater revenues would lead to the team spending more money. More money spent on players is good for players. And if it takes a little extra to help make the inconvenience of an in-season move more palatable, well, as one veteran player who was open to playing for a two-city team said Thursday: "Money always solves problems in this game."

A few other pluses: Montreal is widely recognized as an incredible city -- one that players would love to play in. The Rays are very good now and have one of the two best farm systems in baseball, meaning they're likely to be good for a long, long time.

But, yeah. It's true. Some players would automatically -- and understandably -- not be willing to play for the ... uh ... the ... hold on. This team doesn't have a name.

Seriously, man. Enough with the details. Here's what the world really wants to know: What would this shared team be named?

That's the sort of question to be answered after dealing with the political brawling and stadium-funding fights and union approval and myriad other topics of far greater import.

The Tampa Bay Rays of Montreal isn't bad. The Snowbirds would work, and the logo potential is off the charts. The Tampa Bay Ehs is pretty inspired. (Thanks to @CespedesBBQ for collecting these.)

But if they're not nicknamed the Ex-Rays, it will constitute the greatest missed opportunity for a truly perfect portmanteau in the history of the English language.