No Strike in 94'

Jeremy Lin

Banned
What would the results have been in the world series if there was no baseball strike in 1994? The Montreal Expos were leading the league with the best record in baseball at the time and it has been espoused by many people that they were a lock to win the world series but was it that much of a given? The Braves were still a very dangerous team at the time, not to mention the powerhouse Indians and Yankees in the AL, how would the rest of the season have turned out if there was no strike on August 1994?
 

FDW

Banned
I've postulated with people in another thread that it might've gone a long towards keeping The Expos in Montreal, though they would really need a new stadium for it to be a lock.
 
Matt Williams of the SF Giants was on track to beat Roger Maris' home-run record (and IIRC a computer simulation of the rest of the season back then had him doing just that), so that would've been great. I'm curious, though: have any of the players involved in the strike ever said it was a mistake? A few of the owners have said that the strike did a lot of damage to the game, and it took several years for baseball to recover. The players involved should be all retired by now, so....
 
Expos would have had a definite shot at the World Series, though it was a bit too early for the Yankees to make a run-I'd expect Cleveland to be the AL team. Braves were still very good, and would have also had a chance that year.

On a personal level, Tony Gwynn and Ken Griffey Jr. were having career years. It's very likely that Gwynn would have batted above .400, and Griffey would surely have had 50 homers, not to mention a very good chance at breaking Maris' home run record

Matt Williams of the SF Giants was on track to beat Roger Maris' home-run record (and IIRC a computer simulation of the rest of the season back then had him doing just that), so that would've been great. I'm curious, though: have any of the players involved in the strike ever said it was a mistake? A few of the owners have said that the strike did a lot of damage to the game, and it took several years for baseball to recover. The players involved should be all retired by now, so....


As far as I'm aware, none of the players have ever said that. They viewed it as a necessity, especially coming off the collusion case a bit earlier. In retrospect, a salary cap, which some of the owners were suggesting, might not have been a bad thing though.
 
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Jeremy Lin

Banned
I agree that Cleveland probably wins the AL and the NL would almost certainly have featured a tantalizing matchup of Montreal-Atlanta. Let's compare the two rosters

Expos Braves
C - Darrin Fletcher Javy Lopez
1st - Cliff Floyd McGriff
2nd - Mike Lansing Lemke
SS - Will Cordero Jeff Blauser
3rd - Sean Berry Terry Pendleton
LF - Moises Alou Ryan Klesko
CF- Marquis Grissom Roberto Kelly
RF- Larry Walker David Justice

Rotations - Ken Hill, Pedro, Jeff Fassero
Maddum, Glavine, Avery & Smoltz

Just by a topical view the expos seem to have by far the better OF, but the braves have the advantage at C, 1st, 2nd and 3rd plus Pedro was not yet the dominant HOF pitcher we have come to expect. A interesting point of note, GLavine, Avery and Smoltz all had substandard seasons with 4 eras and the one thing preventing a Braves dynasty in the 90's was an effective bullpen and the Braves were stuck with the venerable Greg McMichael closing.
 

Jeremy Lin

Banned
MLB was still playing by 2 division rules in 94' so the NLCS would have been Braves-Expos and ALCS Yankees-White Sox.
 
1994 was the first year of the 3 division format. The leaders when the strike started....

AL EAST - NY YANKEES (6.5 games up)
AL CENTRAL - Chicago White Sox (1 game up on Cleveland, 4 on Kansas City)
AL West - Texas Rangers (1 game up on Oakland, 2 on Seattle, 5.5 on California) ** All under 500
Wild Card - Cleveland by 4 games on Baltimore

NL EAST - Montreal (6 games up on Atlanta) Best record in MLB (4 games over the Yanks)
NL CENTRAL - Cincinnati (1/2 game up on Houston)
NL WEST - LA Dodgers (3.5 up on San Franciso)
Wild Card - Atlanta (2 games up on Houston)

This was still the balanced schedule 14/13 against your division, 13/12 against everyone else. I seem to remember the Expos and the Braves still had 6 games left and the Expos still have the bulf of their games against LA, Cinci, and Houston left.... Also Montreal famously had issues as the weather turned... and southern weather was always Braves advanage.
 
Don't remind me. At the time, Quebec had a government that was willing to spend 10 times more a year measuring the size of English letters on signs than it would have cost to fund a new stadium. Fuck Bouchard and fuck Landry.
 
Which leads to a major scandal, as the White Sox throw the game, making another Black Sox scandal.

The investigators publish their in depth disclosure of the problems as an "Expos, eh?"
;):):p:eek::eek:


the timing would actually be very neat, as it would be the 75th anniversary of the 1919 thrown series.
 
Jeff Bagwell is screwed, as he won't win the NL MVP despite .368/.451/.750 and 39 home runs because he broke his hand on August 10th, literally one day before the strike started. So now he doesn't win the MVP.

On the other hand, Frank Thomas with his .353/.487/.729 will still win the AL MVP, and could win the Triple Crown as he's on pace for 55 home runs and 150 RBIs.
 
Mattingly bats .390 with 3 doubles and 3 homers in the playoffs, and gets a ring. He also gets a plaque in Cooperstown in 2007.

I doubt that would have been enough to put Mattingly in Cooperstown. However, I think the strike prevented another player from hitting a magic number. Fred McGriff finished his career with 493 career home runs, only 7 shy of 500. McGriff hit 34 home runs in 1994 in 113 games and 424 AB. That translates to 12.5 AB/HR. When play resumed in 1995, McGriff had 27 home runs in 528 AB, which was 19.6 AB/HR. McGriff was having a monster season in terms of power in 1994 and would have likely crossed the 40 home run mark in 1994 had the season finished. I believe that if the strike had not happened, McGriff would have had 500 career home runs.
 
I doubt that would have been enough to put Mattingly in Cooperstown. However, I think the strike prevented another player from hitting a magic number. Fred McGriff finished his career with 493 career home runs, only 7 shy of 500. McGriff hit 34 home runs in 1994 in 113 games and 424 AB. That translates to 12.5 AB/HR. When play resumed in 1995, McGriff had 27 home runs in 528 AB, which was 19.6 AB/HR. McGriff was having a monster season in terms of power in 1994 and would have likely crossed the 40 home run mark in 1994 had the season finished. I believe that if the strike had not happened, McGriff would have had 500 career home runs.


It seems to me that '94 had a ton of personal achievements that were prevented by the strike-Thomas shooting for the Triple Crown, Gwynn's pursuit of .400, McGriff's chances at 500, Griffey's shot at Maris.....Fans got screwed in more than a few ways.

Jeff Bagwell is screwed, as he won't win the NL MVP despite .368/.451/.750 and 39 home runs because he broke his hand on August 10th, literally one day before the strike started. So now he doesn't win the MVP.

On the other hand, Frank Thomas with his .353/.487/.729 will still win the AL MVP, and could win the Triple Crown as he's on pace for 55 home runs and 150 RBIs.

Bagwell may not necessarily be done for. After all, Josh Hamilton won the MVP in 2010 despite missing a month of the season, and Bagwell wouldn't miss much more than that.
 
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