WI: 1994 World Series

SmithAlien

This past Saturday, at an antique mall in Aurora, CO, I picked up a Rawlings official 1994 World Series baseball--an official baseball produced for a World Series that never happened IOTL due to the 1994 MLB strike that truncated the season. Or, maybe, just maybe, someone came back with this ball from an alternate 1994 whose MLB season and WS did occur ;)

What if the 1994 season was not cut short by the strike, and the World Series did occur? In this alternate timeline, which teams would have made it to the playoffs and eventually the WS?

SmithAlien
 

DTF955Baseballfan

I wrote a whole book on that, "Completed Game," available online as a Print On Demand book or ebook. Here or at Nook store, lulu.com, itunes, etc.

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The media circus around Michael Jordan being promoted in early September toughens the White Sox' resolve so they find the playoffs easy by comparison and they beat the Expos in 5.

There is stuff on subsequent seasons, too. Plus teh 1981 strike in one final section.
 

OldNavy1988

IMHO, I think the 94 Series would have had Cleveland vs Montreal, but I am not sure if the Indians would have swept the Expos, or if both teams would be even enough to make it interesting.
 

1940LaSalle

OldNavy1988 said:
IMHO, I think the 94 Series would have had Cleveland vs Montreal, but I am not sure if the Indians would have swept the Expos, or if both teams would be even enough to make it interesting.
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That would have been a network nightmare: two rather obscure teams (to be polite), one largely Francophone city and one utterly dreary post-industrial city. It might still hold the low-ratings record to this day. You could have heard remotes clicking to something else all over North America, either to what was popular at the time (I forget), or in some cities, early season NHL action.

And I'm not sure that had the Expos made it, they would still be in Montreal. The Olympic stadium wasn't particularly well-suited for baseball, and the lighting wasn't very good. They'd probably have tried to strong-arm a deal for a new/better retractable roof park or threatened to decamp--and quite possibly the latter would have happened anyhow. To those who would argue that a World Series appearance should cement relations with a given city, I point out the examples of the Boston Braves (five years elapsed from the last Series appearance to the move to Milwaukee) and the Brooklyn Dodgers (just two years for the analogous move to LA).

Finally, the idea of a world championship in Cleveland borders on the preposterous. :D Kidding, of course, but, still...
 
Lemon flavoured

Lemon flavoured

I think someone on the Out of The Park Baseball forums has simulated this and written a bit of a TL about it.

It's certainly a pretty major sports what if.
 

mrcubfan415

Here's a 2014 Sports Illustrated article about what might have happened had the 1994 season not been cut short: link

Quite fascinating. Definitely worth the read.
 
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