August 12, 1994, was a day that long-time baseball fans will never forget, and many will never forgive. Major League Baseball had experienced several “work stoppages” previously, but this one resulted in the loss of the World Series for the first time in 90 years. It also cost the Montreal Expos and their fans to miss out on the team’s second postseason and a chance at their only World Series appearance. Coincidentally, the Expos’ only postseason appearance occurred in 1981, another strike-shortened year.
Baseball fans old enough to remember the 1994 Expos roster might agree that the Expos had the Majors’ best team. Their normal starting lineup consisted of the following through 114 games:
- C: Darrin Fletcher: .260, 10 HR, 57 RBI
- 1B: Cliff Floyd — .281, 10 SB, 19 2B
- 2B: Mike Lansing — .978 Fielding %, 21 2B
- SS: Wil Cordero — .294, 15 HR, 63 RBI, 30 2B
- 3B: Sean Berry — .278, 11 HR, 41 RBI
- LF: Moises Alou — .339, 22 HR, 78 RBI, 31 2B
- CF: Marquis Grissom — .288, 36 SB, 96 runs
- RF: Larry Walker — .322, 19 HR, 86 RBI
In addition, the Expos had two young starters by the names of Pedro Martinez (11-5, 3.42 ERA) and Ken Hill (16-5, 3.32) and a reliever named John Wetteland (2.83 ERA, 25 saves).
The 1994 Expos had Major League Baseball’s best record — 74-40 (.649) — and held a six-game lead over the Atlanta Braves in the N.L. East. Projections often fail, but if continued at that pace for the full 162-game season, the Expos would have won 105 games.
The N.L. Central was much tighter as the Cincinnati Reds (66-48, .579) held a half-game lead over the Houston Astros. The Dodgers and Giants battled in the N.L. West with Los Angeles leading by 3.5 games. Atlanta was the N.L. Wild Card leader in the first year of the new format. Given the records, Montreal likely, though not guaranteed, would have easily won the division series and NLCS to advance to the World Series.
In the American League, the New York Yankees were the best team at 70-43 (.619) and led the A.L. East by six games while the White Sox and Rangers led their divisions by one game each. Cleveland finished as the A.L. Wild Card leader. The stage was set for a potential Yankees/Expos World Series. Again, we will never know.
We will also never see which team would have won, but Montreal certainly would have given the Bronx Bombers or any A.L. team some serious trouble.
The strike also inexcusably cost us some other potential milestones and records. Again, we will never know if these accomplishments would have occurred, but the numbers indicate their strong possibilities.
Hall-of-Fame Padre Tony Gwynn, who lost his battle with cancer earlier in 2014, ended the season with a .394 batting average, just three hits shy of .400. The last player to hit .400 was Ted Williams (.406 in 1941). Gwynn’s pace projects to 617 at bats, so 82 more hits would have given him that .400 average. It was a long shot with 52 games left but one that Gwynn had the talent to reach.
Next, San Francisco’s Matt Williams led the Majors in home runs with 43, and Seattle’s Ken Griffey, Jr. had 40 to lead the American League. The record then was still Roger Maris‘s 61. Williams needed 19 more, and Griffey needed 22. Williams’s pace projects to 62 to break the record, and Griffey’s projects to 58. Extra-hot streaks could have helped either or both to surpass Maris.
Houston’s Jeff Bagwell could have challenged the 170-RBI mark to crack the Top 10 on the single-season RBI record list. He had 116 RBI in 110 games.
On the mound, Toronto’s Jimmy Key could have won 23 games or more; he was 17-4 in 25 starts, and he made 33-34 starts per year in the early 90’s. Atlanta’s Greg Maddux had a WAR of 8.5 in 25 starts, on pace to finish at 11.9 if he had made his then-normal 35 starts.
Obviously, the World Series is the most devastating loss of the 1994 season. However, these other possibilities will forever go unanswered. The strike lasted all winter and into the new year. It affected the beginning of the 1995 season and shortened it to 144 games. At least, though, we have not seen another work stoppage of any kind since then, but many fans, especially Expos fans, never forgave MLB for the strike. Let us hope it never happens again.
PHOTO CREDIT: Jonathan Daniel, Getty Images Sport
