Blue Monday becomes Championship Wednesday: Remembering the Montreal Expos

The shot heard around the baseball world when Rick Monday,
of the Los Angeles Dodgers, hit the game-winning home run off
Montreal pitcher Steve Rogers in the fifth and deciding game
of the 1981 National League Championship Series.
Source: https://bill37mccurdy.com/2018/05/15/
maxwell-kates-greatest-play-i-ever-saw/5-october-19-1981-the-rick-monday-pitch/
(May be subject to copyright)

It was the shot heard around the baseball world a cool fall day in 1981.

Unfortunately, I didn’t see it because I was in school, but I heard all about it.

Rick Monday had hit a home run in the fifth and deciding game of the National League Championship Series to send his Los Angeles Dodgers to the World Series.

More importantly to me, it broke my heart, sending the Montreal Expos packing.

That drama all unfolded on a Monday in October of 1981.

I was thinking about it on a Wednesday in October of 2019 when the Expos, in their current incarnation as the Washington Nationals, won the World Series in another sudden death, final game.

Duke and Dave
The first baseball game I ever saw on TV was Expos Baseball on CBC in 1979. It was brought to me by the broadcasting duo of Dave Van Horne and Duke Snider. The Expos were challenging the Pittsburgh Pirates for the National League East Division championship. To be honest, I initially had the same reaction to the Expos that I had to the Montreal Canadiens hockey team – hatred.

That dissipated quickly, however.

The Expos were a young, dynamic, entertaining team made up of some of the best players in baseball. Gary Carter was their catcher and a bonified all-star. I always remembered how he worked over a piece of gum or chewing tobacco like a cow. And, he was always smiling and enjoying the game. Andre Dawson, “The Hawk” was in the outfield. His strides were so long, he always looked like he was gliding, not running. And the Expos had their own Captain America in pitcher Steve Rogers, who was the ace of their staff.

The Expos were in the hunt again in 1980, battling down to the wire with the Philadelphia Phillies for the National League East Division. The teams were tied going into the final weekend of the season. Fittingly, the final series was at Olympic Stadium in Montreal, a three-game set that would determine the division champion.

The Phillies won the opener then beat the Expos in extra innings to clinch the division. The Expos would rebound to win the final game of the season to end the year one game back of first place, the closest they had come to making the playoffs.

The Phillies went on to defeat the Houston Astros in the National League Championship Series then the Kansas City Royals in the World Series.

Over the top
The Expos were back in the hunt in 1981. This time around they would make their way into the playoffs in a unique way.

The Phillies jumped out to lead the National League West when a strike halted play. When the season resumed, it was determined there would be a different playoff season. This year, and the only time until 1995, there would be a divisional playoff in each of the four divisions. The four teams leading their divisions were declared first half champions. The season would resume with each time starting with a 0-0 record. The four teams that finished first in the second half would play the winners of the first half in a best-of-five divisional series. If the same team won both halves, the second place team in the second half would qualify for the divisional series.

The Expos would prevail and win the second half, setting up a five-game, winner-take-all series for the National League East Championship. The Expos won the first two at Olympic Stadium, only to have the Phillies bounce back to win two at home and force a sudden-death Game 5 for the division at Veterans Stadium. The Expos prevailed, with a 3-0 win, securing their first and only division championship as the Montreal Expos.

Championship Series
The Expos were off to the National League Championship Series. They would face the Los Angeles Dodgers, winners of the National League West Division, in a best-of-five series to see who would go to the World Series.

Los Angeles won Game 1 at Dodgers Stadium, before the Expos tied the series with a 3-0 win in Game 2. The series shifted to Olympic Stadium for the final three games, if necessary. Montreal won Game 3 by a score of 4-1, only to have the Dodgers tie the series with a 4-0 win in Game 4.

Once again, the Expos would play in a sudden-death, fifth and deciding game.

The Expos scored in the bottom of the first inning to lead 1-0 until the top of the fifth inning when the Dodgers tied the score. The teams would remain tied until the top of the ninth, when Manager Jim Fanning replaced starter Ray Burris with Steve Rogers, winner of Game 3, and the ace of the Expos staff.

Tragedy struck as Rick Monday hit a solo homer off Rogers to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead.

It was not walk-off, and the Expos had a shot in the bottom of the ninth.

Montreal worked two walks with two out, but could not cash them.

On Monday, October 19, 1981, Rick Monday had broken the hearts of the Montreal Expos.

It truly was a Blue Monday – Dodger Blue Rick Monday.

Parting thoughts
The Dodgers went on to defeat the New York Yankees 4-2 in the World Series, a re-match of the 1977 and 1978 World Series, both won by the Yankees.

The Expos would come close, but did not make the playoffs ever again in Montreal. The team re-located to Washington and became the Nationals in 2005. They would eventually return to the playoffs in 2012, winning the National League East. They would win it again in 2014, 2016, and 2017. However, it was as a wildcard in 2019 that they advanced all the way to the World Series, defeating the Houston Astros 4-3.

After a long journey through two countries and six decades, the franchise had finally won the World Series.

The day after the franchise’s Game 7 victory, I received an e-mail from a friend that simply said: “Vive Les Expos!”

Blue Monday had become Championship Wednesday.