New York ? The Montreal Expos voted Friday against shifting a quarter of next season’s home games to Mexico or Puerto Rico.

Major League Baseball asked players Thursday to move about a quarter of the Expos’ home games next year from Montreal to either San Juan or Monterrey.

Players met with Gene Orza, the No. 2 official of the players’ association and other union officials Friday and took an informal vote. Games can’t be moved from Montreal without an agreement with the union.

“I think the vote represents what the guys, in their gut, actually feel,” the Expos’ Todd Zeile said.

To increase revenue, baseball relocated 22 Expos home games this year to San Juan. Orza said the initial proposal for 2004 called for about the same number of games to be moved next season.

Games would have been moved to only one location outside Montreal, not both.

“We were disappointed at the apparent decision of the players to not agree to split the 2004 season,” said Bob DuPuy, baseball’s chief operating officer. “We thought the experiment this season was a success in presenting the game to a new market and consistent with the globalization of the game.”

The excessive travel required of the Expos this season might have hurt their chances of making the playoffs.

“There are players and club officials on this team that felt it had an effect,” Orza said. The Expos want “81 games at home, 81 games on the road. Just like everyone else.”