Montreal Expos get their due on MLB Network

On Sunday night, MLB Network aired "Triumph and Tragedy: The 1994 Montreal Expos." The show not only the covered the Expos run during that ill-fated season, but it also went over some of the reasons that ultimately led to the demise of baseball in Montreal. Overall, I was pretty impressed with the show. More than anything, the show really captured the exuberance and joy of baseball fans in Montreal, and it also showed that there was indeed an interest in baseball there, and it was certainly more than what the media (or even MLB) would lead you to believe.

Also, after watching that show, I sincerely believe that the Montreal Expos had to be one of the unluckier franchises in the game. Their best completed season was in 1979, when they went 95-67 and lost the NL East by three games to the eventual World Champion Pirates. After missing out on the postseason again in 1980 (this time by one game to the eventual World Champion Phillies), they finally made the playoffs in ironically enough, a strike-shortened campaign that forced there to be a division winner for each half of the season (the first half and second half division winners would face off in the first-ever "division series"). Montreal got their revenge on Philadelphia in the first round by defeating them three games to two, to set up a NLCS showdown between them and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Unfortunately, Murphy's Law would strike again for the Expos, as pitcher Steve Rogers surrendered a go-ahead, ninth inning home run in the fifth and deciding game of the NLCS to Rick Monday for the Dodgers to advance to the World Series. For Montreal fans, this would be their only experience with postseason baseball, as the team slipped into mediocrity for the remainder of the 1980s. Making matters worse, owner and team founder Charles Bronfman (the only owner in Expos history who actually gave a damn about the team) sold the team following the 1991 season to Claude Brochu and a group of investors. However, Bronfman's organizational philosophy of stockpiling the farm system still remained, and all of those stars on their farm teams would blossom into major league-ready talent by the beginning of the 1994 season.

The team would get off to a 74-40 start that year, which was the best record in the majors, and a whopping six games ahead of the mighty Atlanta Braves. However, the Expos' dream season would come to a premature end on August 12, when the players' strike began that would ultimately cancel the postseason. Since the franchise was financially strapped for cash, they would have to sell off a majority of their stars before the 1995 season, and the team would never be the same.

Of course, if the Expos didn't have such crappy owners following Bronfman, there could perhaps still be a team in Montreal. However, one has to wonder if the Expos would have gotten a shot at the 1994 title, if there would still a team there. Certainly, there were no guarantees that they would have won it all or even reach the World Series had they made the 1994 playoffs. The Yankees, White Sox and Indians were all strong teams in the American League, and the Reds and Braves were pretty strong in the National League. Judging by the excellent balance of speed, defense, power and pitching the Expos had that year, it's no stretch to think that they would have held their own against those teams. Alas, we'll never know how that team would have played out, but MLB Network did a great job of looking back at that fantastic team that never got a shot to prove how good they were.