1994.....

[SaintsOfTheDiamond]

Didn't realize it til I saw this article that it was 11 years ago today that the strike began. Thanks Bud.

[AT]

Seems like an awfully long time ago. Nice post.

[WharfRat]

Great story. I love the Times.

[go_jays_go]

Great post.

The Hardball times always has interesting stuff.

[Mookie4ever]

1994 killed the Expos I don't know whether to be sad or angry about this. Wait til ensanimal reads this.

At least the work stoppage in the NHL saved Canadian teams, we have that to be thankful for at least.

[prodpaul]

Yeah The Royals had like a 14 game winning streak that year and poised to move in first place. Cone won the CY Young Award for us and Bob Hamelin was Rookie of The Year.

[Rirruto]

Nice article, would have been interesting to see how Montreal would fare after going to the playoffs that year

[go_jays_go]

Nice article, would have been interesting to see how Montreal would fare after going to the playoffs that year

Montreal would have owned.

[pokerplaya]

Oh yeah, the strike. That's the second thing that popped into my mind. The first was the Rangers...(NY)

[SaintsOfTheDiamond]

Had the Expos played .500 baseball the rest of the way, they would finished the year 98-64. In short, only an epic collapse would’ve kept the Expos out of the playoffs. Montreal had a young, exciting team on the rise, the second lowest payroll in the game, rising attendance, and postseason revenue all in the future. The extra money would’ve helped the Expos avoid the fire sale of 1995 and who knows what else? The Montreal Expos were the number one casualty of the strike. Absent the strike, the Expos would be alive and well in Montreal.

I don't know if that's really the case because I'm not sure what the ownership situation was like at the time, but that was the part that caught my eye with respect to the Expos. I suppose winning in the post season doesn't guarnatee anything (see Marlins) but that's probably the most fascinating part to me.