Who would have won the World Series that year, and how would that change the course of MLB history?

Supposedly, it killed the momentum of the Montreal Expos and resulted in their relocation. I’m not sure how much truth there is to that. Montreal just doesn’t strike me as a great place for baseball, especially in a hockey-rabid country.

Gwynn gets to .400
Williams hits 62 HR
McGriff gets to 500/2500, get in HOF via writers

I don't think it saves the Expos. They left 11 years later for Washington. Unlike college sports where a championship can have a major influx of 4/5-star recruits and (likely) continued success, a lone title in pro sports is more often an anomaly than it is a sign of things to come.

(08-31-2023 02:11 PM)BePcr07 Wrote:  I don't think it saves the Expos. They left 11 years later for Washington. Unlike college sports where a championship can have a major influx of 4/5-star recruits and (likely) continued success, a lone title in pro sports is more often an anomaly than it is a sign of things to come.

It’s not likely given how much Montreal/Quebec funding was sunk in Olympic Stadium at the time, but not impossible. Look no further than the Mariners, who was all but moving out of Seattle after voters rejected the stadium referendum in August 1995 but went on a hot streak to make the ALCS to get the Washington legislature to approve funding for Safeco Field. The Expos were in the Top 3 of NL attendance from 1980-83 when their park was new and they had good teams, the support was there for winning baseball.

The Rays might have relocated to Washington had the Expos stayed in Montreal.