Expos History

The Montreal Expos is a professional team based in Montreal , Quebec , Canada . They are among the five teams in the East Division of the National League (NL). The team was founded in 1969 in their home arena at Olympic Stadium, Montreal . The team played from 1969 to 2004, in 2004 the team relocated in the Washington , D.C and became the Washington Nationals. The first owner of the team was Charles Bronfman of the Seagrams whisky empire. The Expos played their first game on 8th April 1969 against the New York Mets at Shea Stadium, where they won with 11-10 score. In the same session just after six days the expos played their first major league game in Canada and won the game against St. Louis Cardinals. Despite success in early times, the Expos still suffered expansion pains. They ended their first season in last place with a miserable 52-110 record. The Expos suffered 10 straight losing seasons under their first manager, Gene Mauch (1969- 1975). The Expos registered their first winning record under the manager Dick Williams with a record of 95-65.

The Expos posted five consecutive winning seasons and reached their post season. In 1981, the Expos achieved their first National League East division title. In the playoffs the expos defeated the Philadelphia Phillies with 3-2 in the National League Championship Series. The expos hosted the first All-Star game located outside the United States in 1982, they won the All-Star Game with 4-1 record. The Expos had several mediocre years in the mid 1980s under manager Buck Rodgers, but steadily rebuilt in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1992 and 1993 the Expos took the second place in the National League East. In 1994 the Expos made the best record in the Major League Baseball with 74-40 score. In 1994 the Expos lost many eminent stars of its group as a result they registered poor records almost every year.

They were six games ahead of the second place Braves and were on pace to win 105 games. The team was led by Claude Brochu and Jacques Menard in 1995. The 1996 season the team fall 2 games short with 88-74 record. Pedro Martinez won the Cy Young in 1997 as they ended the season in 4 th place with a record of 78-84. The team registered poor performance for next few sessions as they could not record much laurels. Gradually the fans started loosing their interest and the attendance started decreasing rapidly that reached to 10,000 in 2001. The team registered respectable seasons in 2002 and 2003. In 2004, the Expos were 67-95 after losing superstar Vladimir Guerrero to free agency during the previous off-season. On September 29, 2004 MLB officially announced that the Expos would move to Washington D.C. in 2005. Montreal Expos Hall of Famers includes Gary Carter and Tony Perez. The Expos have won two Division titles in 1981 and 1994. The Expos could not make in any World Championship. They appeared in the NLCS in 1981. The Expos has to its credit two Division Championships in 1981 and 1994.