Quote:
Originally Posted by tejdog1
Hypothetical: If the Expos do win the 94 WS, would they have moved in 2005?
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I live in Montreal and even today, most people can name a lot of players from the '94 team; Lansing, Alou (both Moise and Felipe), Walker, Fletcher, Pedro and Fassero are iconic names even today. There was real enthusiasm about that team as it had one of the smallest payrolls in the majors (27th out of 28) and were performing well above it. Then the strike came and all baseball fans here still feel that they were robbed of a WS.
After 1994, frustration from the strike and .400 seasons made many people stopped following the team. A small resurgence in 1996 when the Expos had a good season but after that, when all the players that were on the 1994 team left, people really lost interest. Combine that with questionable ownership and the team was doomed.
Historically in Montreal, all sports teams (except hockey) must be successful in order to attract people. That included the Expos. Looking at the attendances in the early 1980s, they had some of the biggest crowds in the NL but they had players like Dawson, Raines and Carter.
So to answer the question, I do not think that if the Expos would have won the WS in '94 it would have change something. The main factor for the team changing cities is that the strike prevented the fans from seeing that season thru. Even with a loss in the playoffs, at least there would have been some kind of closure. Everyone old enough here are still bitter from 1994. Montreal really gets a bad rap from other baseball cities but there is a genuine good core of baseball fans. They just got kicked in the teeth during their best chance at a WS.