August 12th,, 1994 is a dark day in Major League Baseball history. It would mark the first day of a long MLB strike that would last until April 2nd, 1995. The remainder of the 1994 season would be cancelled as well as the post-season and the World Series. This strike would have a negative effect on the whole league, but one team in particular would get the worst damage and never recover from the strike, and that team was the Montreal Expos.
When the strike officially started and the season stopped , the Expos would had the best record in baseball at 74-40. They were be 6 games ahead of the Atlanta Braves in the National League East, and were better than American League leaders, the New York Yankees. Prior to the 1994 season the Expos only made the post season once in team history (1981), and just missed making it to the World Series thanks to an LA Dodgers home run hit by Rick Monday. The Expos had great teams in the 80’s and early 90’s but always fell just short of a post-season berth, although if more than four teams had made the playoffs in that time the Expos would have had more chances at a championship.
That being said, the 1994 baseball season was looking like the Expos year to win it all. This was a team with a superstar roster, players like Darrin Fletcher, Cliff Floyd, Marquis Grissom, Wil Cordero, Moises Alou, Larry Walker, Ken Hill, Jeff Fassero, John Wetteland, Pedro Martinez and many more, managed by Felipe Alou and his coaching staff. Their last game of that fateful season would be a loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, but before that the Expos would win 20 of their past 22 games. The Expos were rolling and looked like an unstoppable force. The team also saw a massive spike in attendance that year and their numbers were the most improved in baseball.
By losing the season and not even getting a chance at the post-season, Montreal fans were in utter shock, depressed, and as angry as could be. Many of the fans would turn their backs on the team and MLB ,and never look back. The Expos would never recover from this. Next season, the shaky ownership wouldn’t re-sign players like Larry Walker. They would also have a fire sale, sending many top players away. The 1995 Expos were missing many of the key players who made the 1994 team such a force. Further trades over the next several years would continue to strip the team. It seemed that every time a promising promising prospect blossomed into a contributing minor leaguer, he would soon be traded away before his salary increased. Most infamous to this day is the trade that sent away prospects Brandon Phillips, Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee and Lee Stevens, all for Bartolo Colon and Tim Drew.
The team would have a couple of decent years, but terrible ownership, a terrible stadium in a not so popular location, a lack of a new stadium that was needed, no support from the government and shrinking crowds would lead to the team moving to Washington DC in 2004.
The anniversary of this day doesn’t bring out happy memories, it brings out a lot of “what if” stories. Imagine if the Expos won it all, kept their top players, would they have made the post season more than once in the 90’s? Would players like Larry Walker, Moises Alou, and Pedro Martinez be around when Vladimir Guerrero, Orlando Cabrera, Javier Vazquez and Jose Vidro were starting to light it up? Would the Expos still be in Montreal? Who knows? To this day many people are still upset with Major League baseball, and many former Expos fans refuse to support MLB. It is just to painful, however there is light starting to show in Montreal.
With the Montreal Baseball Project, headed by former Expo Warren Cromartie, trying to bring baseball back to the city, support for the sport is starting to grow again. Earlier this year Montreal was host to two preseason games that saw Olympic Stadium fill up with over 95 000 fans in two days. It doesn’t mean a team will happen overnight, but the possibility of a team coming back to the city in the future is much brighter than it used to be. If that time ever comes, then maybe, just maybe, Expos fans will be able to forgive and forget. Although knowing this city, some people may never forget.
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