#582 Expos Team

One of the expansionist visions of 1969 comes to life as Baseball moved to Canada….a bit of a rocky road for franchise had stadium trouble a throughout its existence in Montreal….Played in converted municipal ballpark, Jarry Field…A no frills facility that held 26 K seats… Achievements as of 1971:  The Expos were able to lift themselves from the basement of NL East despite losing two more games than 1970….problem with the season was 3-19 record in home games from June 11^th to July 24^th….One call of the franchise was to build a domed stadium…It occurred in 1977 but Olympic stadium was poorly suited for baseball and never very popular….The 37 years in Montreal was highlighted with one playoff appearance in 1981….Lost in deciding game 5 to Rick Monday’s home run….Montreal subsequently fielded good teams with 9 teams going over .500 in next 12 seasons…Arguable that 1994 team was the best baseball but the player Lock out nixed the playoff…In the 11 years that followed Montreal never had another winning record….Not making a profit, they moved to Washington for 2005….First season the Nationals were able to break even going 81-81….after multiple losing seasons the Nats finally were able to return to League division series in 2012 and 2014…First star and dominant stats leading of 1971:  Rusty Staub…Some pitching records still stand…Carl Morton’s hits surrended is still tops…his 18 wins is 8^th best in franchise history…Bill Stoneman’s 5 shutouts is a franchise best with four others…Note able players in the Expos uniform were, Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Tim Raines, Tim Wallach, and Steve Rogers.