How The ’94 Strike KILLED The Montreal Expos 

Had the 1994 season continued and Expos made it to the WS, they would still be in Montreal and even a dynasty in the making. They were loaded, Pedro, Larry Walker, Alou, Wetteland, Grissim, and two years later, Vladimir Guerrero gets called up from the minors and becomes a five-tool player. The 94 season wasn't just an end of a shortened strike season but it was basically the end of the Montreal Expos because they never recovered from the strike.

I was 14 when the 1994 strike happened. I was also a big Yankee fan and excited about watching my Yankees play in the playoffs for the first time. The Yankees vs. Expos World Series match-up would have been epic.

I was a young camera guy just out of college working my first job at the NBC station in Plattsburgh NY in 94. As the closest US station to Montreal, we covered them heavily. It was amazing to get in the press box or interview players in the locker room. It was surreal seeing a nearly empty stadium early in the season transition to a packed stadium in July. And it hurt tremendously when the strike hit. What could have been.

With all of the issues that the Expos had, if they were able to complete the 94 season, it would have saved the franchise. Dollars would have come in to re-sign Walker, Wetteland, Hill, and probably Grissom - solidifying them as a contender for at least another 5 years, probably more when you think Vladdy was already coming up through the system. GO EXPOS!

Cleveland, another team that hadn't won in a long time was making noise as well. 1994 had some pretty good storylines to follow for a fan like me whose team was in the crapper. Then that strike happened and I left. When they did what two world wars couldn't do, shutting down the WS, I was done, and baseball was the sport I had followed closest since going to my first game in 67. I stayed away for the next 12 years. The only game I watched was when Cal Ripken broke Lou Gehrig's consecutive game streak because I wanted my kid to see history, and Cal was one of few left who was old-school and really cared about the fans. It was a shame what happened in Montreal. I remember watching their first game on TV, when Rusty Staub was the star of the club. I don't think they will ever get another MLB team though. Too many US markets like Nashville, Charlotte, and New Orleans with more money and the willingness to build a new stadium for a relocating team are in their way. I don't see baseball expanding. They are stretched as it is. Montreal did get a bum deal in 94 but so did other cities. The only strike as dumb as that one was the NHL strike in 2004-2005 that cost them their TV deal in the US with ESPN. After that they bounced around on obscure cable networks until they ended up paying NBC to broadcast their games. Just goes to show what happens when millionaires argue with other millionaires over how to divide millions for playing a game. It never really ends well.

They really needed that wild card back in the day for the early 90’s man lol

I think this is what would have happened had the season finished out: the Expos win the World Series. With all that infusion of revenue, they would have been able to keep a lot of their free agents and extend the players approaching free agency. Not just a winning culture, but a unique, melding culture would have formed in Montreal, where many of the players would have lived in the off-season. Felipe Alou was the perfect manager to build that culture. Impetus would have grown to build a downtown open-air stadium, and the stadium probably gets built. Many of their franchise cornerstones would have grown old in Montreal and retired as Expos. Their farm system was one of the best in the game at that time and the team would have continued winning for many years to come.

Here's hoping Montreal can get an Expansion team when MLB expands to 32. And here's hoping they can also have the Expos name back as well. Montreal definitely deserves a second chance.

And to think, for a lot of baseball fans, the 1994 Expos had more validity for a championship than the 2020 Dodgers.

Yeah, I'm in Chicago and the White Sox were in first place in their division when the 1994 strike hit. It took me a number of years before I forgave baseball for what they did. It must have been gut-wrenching being an Expos fan and being cheated out of almost certain glory. And then to have the team get broken up was adding insult to injury. It took the White Sox a good 10 seasons to get back to the point of being a legitimate title contender.

Often overlooked is the 44 'home' games we hosted at Bithorn Coliseum in San Juan in '03-'04. We were hoping to be a placeholder while things played out in Mtl. There were rumours here that the games were serving as a showcase to move to Mexico City, thereby keeping Nos Amores an International team. While sadly that did not happen, it did make Los Expos the first tri-lingual team in pro sports. Ironically, our hockey arena opened here later in '04, which led to an NHL exhibition game between the Rangers and Panthers in '06.

The only real winner in that strike was the Chicago Bulls. Had there been no strike, there wouldn't have been spring training with replacement players, which Michael Jordan wanted nothing to do with, so MJ might have continued his minor league career rather than returning to the NBA. So maybe Scottie Pippen would be a happier person...

Very well put-together video summary. As well as can possibly be done in 10 minutes, you captured all the key aspects of what made the strike so devastating and such an injustice to the Expos fanbase. I've seen a lot of these 1994 pieces that have factual errors (i.e. saying guys like Andres Galarraga, Delino DeShields or Randy Johnson were still on the team) but this one was spot on. A lot of people don't realize that the 1994 Expos schedule was weighted to have more home games near the end of that season, so 29 of the 48 games that were lost on the schedule would've been at Olympic Stadium at a time when crowds were huge and electric. We lost all that potential revenue, and, more painfully, all those opportunities to see a great team play and expand the fanbase. I'm convinced we would've won it all but at the very least we would've made the post-season and created countless more lifelong Expos fans like me. Instead, the worst possible outcome crushed the dreams of Expos fans and turned many people off baseball forever. It's the still the biggest kick in the teeth any MLB team's fanbase has ever received. I'm still hoping and praying the Expos will come back some day but you're right, nothing will ever extinguish the pain of seeing that season cancelled (or the firesale afterwards) and being doomed to forever wonder about "what might have been".

So happy you did this story to keep hope alive

A Yankees vs Expos WS was certainly a possibility. That Expos team was loaded.

Baseball robbed us of so many great things in 94

I wasn’t even born during that run but it still hurts to know what could’ve been😭🥺

In a simulation in October 94, they Expos defeated the NYY in the WS. In a recent MLB players poll the two cities MLB players would like to see an expansion team in are Nashville and Montreal.

If this strike didn't happen, that would've changed MLB history because I'm not sure if the Braves have a run like they had if the Expos' had a chance to continue their torrid pace. I have no doubt that the Expos would've won the third straight title for a Canadian club. They were that stacked.

I can't believe I forgot that Matt Williams did a impersonation of 2004 Barry Bonds 10yrs before it happened. It's so entertaining when a slightly above avg home run hitter puts it together for one season at a damn near historic pace. Maybe it was actually a Luis Gonzales 2001 impersonation. 😂

OH MY GOD....those group of players are remarkable.

Jeff Fassero was a pretty damn good pitcher until his injury in 98. He was just never the same after his surgery :(

I remember this season very well. “Spos” were Stacked

I WAS A DIE HARD EXPOS FAN AND I AM FROM CALIFORNIA, WHEN THEY WENT ON STRIKE I KNEW THEY WERE GOING TO MOVE THAT TEAM. THAT DAMN OWNERSHIP DUG MY HEART OUT WITH A SPOON. WHAT TORCHARD MY SOUL EVEN MORE WAS THE FACT THEY HAD A DAMN SUPERSTAR IN THE MAKING, VLAD THE IMPAILOR...GRISSOM WAS MY FAVORITE PLAYER BEFORE VALD CAME TO THE TEAM. AT LEAST GRISSOM GOT A WORLD SERIES WITH OUR DAMN ARCH RIVALS😡 THEY NEED TO BRING BACK A TEAM TO MONTREAL.

I would also blame Jeffrey Loria and Bud Selig for the Expos decline.

Since there’s 30 Teams in MLB, there’s a chance that Montreal could get a brand new Expos Franchise. A slim chance though, if Montreal doesn’t show the support like they did in 1994.

I believe there wasn’t revenue sharing at that time, which definitely hurt them too. I also wonder if social media was a big as it is today v the early 2000’s, that the Expos fans could’ve tried to fight the sale, similar to the A’s?? There definitely needs to be a salary minimum & deadbeat owners need to be voted out by a blind owners vote.

I liked the 90UD TripleThreat card. 94 killed alot of careers,Will Clark,Matt Williams,Albert Belle plus this team but Larry Walker eventually,finally made the Hall of Fame!!!

So we could have had an all Canada World Series in 1993 if the Expos were able to catch those 1993 cinderella Phillies in September for the NL East Given, the Expos would have had to beat those 100 wins Atlanta Braves in the NLCS first

I was living in mtl in that strike destroy that team it never was the same after that strike and they got rob for the world series🤷🏾‍♂️

In 1994 the Expos had a great baseball team at 74-40 and they were still 21st out of 28 in MLB attendance. People weren't going to games and that's what killed baseball in Montreal.

the Expos trading Randy Johnson in 89 also screwed them.

Not a lack of conspiracy theories in sports...but aside from the cba negotiations...I'm sure part of the equation to tip the efforts towards a strike, rather than find a solution to play out the 94 season, was that the MLB was just not gonna let the world series championship go to canada for a third year in a row. The US owners and the league were not gonna let that happen.

Even with the fire sales after the 94 season, the Expos entered September 1996 with a chance to make the postseason. Expos were also in the NL Wild Card Hunt with one month to go in the 2003 season. But then the other team that mirrored the Expos, the Marlins, won the wild card and the title as well. How ironic

Sox owner( in 1st place) reinsdorf called that strike.Then signs Alberte Belle to a HUGE DEAL 3 years later. We've been stuck with this guy since 1981.

baseball wanted to stop that year did not want another Canadian team to win the world series

Imagine the possibly 3Peating Toronto Blue Jays in the WS against the red hot Montreal Expos of 1994. An All Canadian 401 series. Abner Doubleday would have spun in his grave!

They should have won the 94 WS.

MLB went on strike sure, but that doesn’t erase the fact that attendance was horrible, the stadium was horrible and the owners were cheap. This was a sinking ship long before 1994 came around and it didn’t help that their rivals Toronto were coming off back-to-back World Series championships.

Now it’s make sense why when I was growing up the expos was trash franchise because of a strike lol. I was born in 94 so I never knew of this

The probable Cleveland INDIANS vs. Montreal Expos World Series would have been very exciting in 1994.

Little did they know? They set the august 12th date weeks ahead of time 😂

94 EXpos were dominating! Matt Williams was dialed in and on pace to break 61 homers.

Personally, I think the Reds would have beat the Expos in the playoffs that season. The Expos were very good, but the Reds matched up with them well. The '94 strike was very damaging for the MLB, but the ridiculous and self-serving shenanigans of the MLB and the owners to woo the fans back demonstrate their crassness and have been even more damaging; hence, they are trying all kinds of "innovations," but these are still more damaging.

Like 20 Hall of Famers!

If the Expos had won the World Series that year it would have saved baseball in Montreal.

Hold up I wasn’t born yet when this happened, but from what I read about the Expos it appears they were never that successful even before 1994. They only made the playoffs in 1981 and that ironically was also a strike shortened season.

Same thing occurred 1981 Phillies Schmidt & Carlton we’re having best years Ironically beaten by the Expos Who lost to the Dodgers who won it all Felt the same way Wasnt on band wagon again until after 2000

I will go to my grave detesting Selig and Fehr

It was a big mistake to let the strike happen. Expos were heading to become champions. It was over for them when the strike happen. They never had a winning season ever since.

should have played NYY vs ME for the World Series

Owners should’ve stood their ground and got the salary cap. Baseball would be a lot better off

In his times larry warker in the Home plate he was player to peoduce RBI

If it was an american team in first place like the Yankees, the Dodgers or the Red Sox, I'm pretty sure Selig did not have cancelled the rest of the season and the playoffs.

The Wild Card turned out to be useless in 1994

It was a conspiracy to keep them from a ring!!! 😡

As a Braves' fan, thank goodness for the strike. Without it, this team could have seriously derailed their 14 consecutive division titles.

WHYYYY

If there was not a strike that year the Montréal Expos would of won the World series and would have been still in the major's. The league did'nt want a low paying team to beat the the highest paid team the Yankee's. After that they new owners wanted to kick out the Expos out of the league.

My mother and I actually went to a game in Montreal in 1994. We were able to buy seats right behind the dugout just as the game was beginning. The experience was terrible. The Expos would have ended up leaving regardless of whether the 94 season was completed or not. Especially since the new playoff format has made it even less likely the team with the best record goes to the World Series so the Expos succeeding in that postseason would not have been a guarantee at all.

Till my dying day, I strongly believe that if the '94 strike never happened, the Expos would have won the World Series that year, they would have stayed in Montreal, probably could have been a World Series contender for couple more years, and Washington, DC still wouldn't have another baseball team!!

Aww, Look at theScore trying to be Secret Base.

Hearing all these "Montreal Expos Fans" cry about losing baseball and needing it back makes me sick. They didnt support them for fuck all when they were there, dont start crying now. Montreal is a fair whether city. They only come out when winning.

the Expos would have had zero chance against the Yankees. Just want to add I served a lot of French Canadians while working at Rogers Centre, they're all jerks. I can see why the Expos left for DC and I hope Quebec never gets another MLB team

😭

Hall of Fame 🔥🔥🔥

I was looking forward to my White Sox vs Expos in the World Series. Oh well...😑

Montreal never was a baseball town. 1994 was an if, remember all teams with awesome records like Dodgers in 2022 with 112-50. Have the best record doesn't mean an instant World Series crown. Atlanta has been better rotation than Montreal and remember White Sox or Yankees that year.

I hope the Montreal Expos will return to professional baseball.

Still make my blood boil

Kristaps Porzingis to Boston your next video theScore 🙏🙏🙏

And The Texas Rangers....

Montreal will get a team again sooner than later

Indians and Expos!

The Original Montreal Screwjob.....

Montreal is the World Series champions in 1994 based on having the best record

Excuses, excuses. Braves got results.

That Expos team was a monster. I was a Phillies fan hoping they could repeat as division champs but it was a no contest. Cleveland was stacked too. WS would have been Montreal and Cleveland

Imagine if Tom Brady joined the team when he was drafted by them😢 The expos would have 17 world series rings smh