1997 Montreal Expos season

1997 Montreal Expos
Pedro Martínez wins the Cy Young
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1969)
Eastern Division (since 1969)
Location
Olympic Stadium (since 1977)
Montreal (since 1969)
Other information
Owner(s)	Claude Brochu
General manager(s)	Jim Beattie
Manager(s)	Felipe Alou
Local television	The Sports Network (Dave Van Horne, Ken Singleton) TQS (Michel Villeneuve, Marc Griffin) SRC (Claude Raymond, Rene Pothier) RDS Network (Denis Casavant, Rodger Brulotte)
Local radio	CIQC (Dave Van Horne, Elliott Price, Joe Cannon, Gary Carter) CKAC (AM) (Jacques Doucet, Rodger Brulotte,Alain Chantelois)
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The 1997 Montreal Expos season was the 29th season of the franchise. They finished 78-84, 23 games back of the Atlanta Braves in the NL East and 14 games back of the Florida Marlins in the Wild Card. They played the Toronto Blue Jays in Interleague play for the first time during the season.

Offseason

October 28, 1996: Jon Habyan was released by the Montreal Expos.^[1]
November 15, 1996: Dave Silvestri was selected off waivers by the Seattle Mariners from the Montreal Expos.^[2]
December 17, 1996: Torey Lovullo was signed as a Free Agent with the Montreal Expos.^[3]
January 21, 1997: Lee Smith signed as a Free Agent with the Montreal Expos.^[4]
January 28, 1997: Yamil Benitez was traded by the Montreal Expos to the Kansas City Royals for Melvin Bunch.^[5]
March 26, 1997: Cliff Floyd was traded by the Montreal Expos to the Florida Marlins for Dustin Hermanson and Joe Orsulak.^[6]
March 31, 1997: Rico Rossy was signed as a Free Agent with the Montreal Expos.^[7]

Spring training

The Expos held spring training at West Palm Beach Municipal Stadium in West Palm Beach, Florida – a facility they shared with the Atlanta Braves – for the last time in 1997. It was their 21st season at the stadium; they had conducted spring training there from 1969 to 1972 and since 1981. In the final spring training game at Municipal Stadium, held on March 26, 1997, the Expos defeated the Braves 2-0.^[8] The following season, the Expos moved their spring training activities to Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida.

Regular season

In 1997, Pedro Martínez posted a 17-8 record for the Expos, and led the league in half a dozen pitching categories, including a 1.90 ERA, 305 strikeouts and 13 complete games pitched, and won the National League Cy Young Award. Pedro Martínez was also the first right-handed pitcher to reach 300 strikeouts with an ERA under 2.00 since Walter Johnson in 1912.

The 13 complete games were tied for the second-highest single-season total in all of baseball since Martínez's career began (Curt Schilling had 15 in 1998; Chuck Finley and Jack McDowell also reached 13 in a year). However, this 1997 total is by far the highest in Martínez's career, as he has only completed more than 5 games in one other season (7, in 2000).

May 7, 1997 – The Expos set a team record (never broken) in runs scored in one inning as they score 13 runs off of Julián Tavárez, Jim Poole, and Joe Roa of the San Francisco Giants at 3Com Park. The Expos would go on to defeat the Giants 19 to 3. The only non-pitcher on the Expos to not register a hit was Sherman Obando who went 0 for 1. An up-and-coming prospect named Vladimir Guerrero hit his first career double and was struck by his second career pitch. A crowd of 9,958 were on hand to witness it in San Francisco.

Opening Day starters

Season standings

NL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Atlanta Braves	101	61	0.623	—	50–31	51–30
Florida Marlins	92	70	0.568	9	52–29	40–41
New York Mets	88	74	0.543	13	50–31	38–43
Montreal Expos	78	84	0.481	23	45–36	33–48
Philadelphia Phillies	68	94	0.420	33	38–43	30–51

Record vs. opponents

1997 National League Records Sources:
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	COL	FLA	HOU	LAD	MON	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL	AL
Atlanta	—	9–2	9–2	5–6	4–8	7–4	6–5	10–2	5–7	10–2	5–6	8–3	7–4	8–3	7–5
Chicago	2–9	—	7–5	2–9	2–9	3–9	5–6	4–7	6–5	6–5	7–5	6–5	5–6	4–8	9–6
Cincinnati	2–9	5–7	—	5–6	5–6	5–7	6–5	6–5	2–9	8–3	8–4	5–6	4–7	6–6	9–6
Colorado	6–5	9–2	6–5	—	7–4	5–6	5–7	7–4	6–5	4–7	4–7	4–8	4–8	7–4	9–7
Florida	8–4	9–2	6–5	4–7	—	7–4	7–4	7–5	4–8	6–6	7–4	5–6	5–6	5–6	12–3
Houston	4–7	9–3	7–5	6–5	4–7	—	7–4	8–3	7–4	4–7	6–6	6–5	3–8	9–3	4–11
Los Angeles	5–6	6–5	5–6	7–5	4–7	4–7	—	7–4	6–5	10–1	9–2	5–7	6–6	5–6	9–7
Montreal	2–10	7–4	5–6	4–7	5–7	3–8	4–7	—	5–7	6–6	5–6	8–3	6–5	6–5	12–3
New York	7–5	5–6	9–2	5–6	8–4	4–7	5–6	7–5	—	7–5	7–4	5–6	3–8	9–2	7–8
Philadelphia	2-10	5–6	3–8	7–4	6–6	7–4	1–10	6–6	5–7	—	5–6	7–4	3–8	6–5	5–10
Pittsburgh	6–5	5–7	4–8	7–4	4–7	6–6	2–9	6–5	4–7	6–5	—	5–6	8–3	9–3	7–8
San Diego	3–8	5–6	6–5	8–4	6–5	5–6	7–5	3–8	6–5	4–7	6–5	—	4–8	5–6	8–8
San Francisco	4–7	6–5	7–4	8–4	6–5	8–3	6–6	5–6	8–3	8–3	3–8	8–4	—	3–8	10–6
St. Louis	3–8	8–4	6–6	4–7	6–5	3-9	6–5	5–6	2–9	5–6	3–9	6–5	8–3	—	8–7

Notable transactions

May 20, 1997: Torey Lovullo was released by the Montreal Expos.^[3]
July 25, 1997: Omar Daal was selected off waivers by the Toronto Blue Jays from the Montreal Expos.^[9]
July 31, 1997: Jeff Juden was traded by the Montreal Expos to the Cleveland Indians for Steve Kline.^[10]
September 25, 1997: Lee Smith was released by the Montreal Expos.^[4]

Roster

1997 Montreal Expos

Roster

Pitchers

54 Shayne Bennett

52 Jim Bullinger

13 Rheal Cormier

47 Omar Daal

34 Rick DeHart

53 Steve Falteisek

30 Dustin Hermanson

47 Mike Johnson

14 Jeff Juden

44 Steve Kline

45 Pedro Martínez

36 José Paniagua

33 Carlos Pérez

49 Lee Smith

38 Everett Stull

32 Anthony Telford

51 Mike Thurman

44 Salomón Torres

41 Ugueth Urbina

18 Marc Valdes

43 Dave Veres

Catchers

12 Raúl Chávez

24 Darrin Fletcher

16 Chris Widger

Infielders

11 Shane Andrews

2 Orlando Cabrera

14 Brad Fullmer

4 Mark Grudzielanek

3 Mike Lansing

21 David Segui

5 Andy Stankiewicz

15 Doug Strange

37 José Vidro

Outfielders

27 Vladimir Guerrero

9 Ryan McGuire

31 Hensley Meulens

29 Sherman Obando

19 Joe Orsulak

40 Henry Rodríguez

7 F. P. Santangelo

22 Rondell White

Manager

17 Felipe Alou

Coaches

67 Pierre Arsenault (bullpen)

26 Bobby Cuellar (pitching)

21 Tommy Harper (hitting)

25 Pete Mackanin (third base)

55 Luis Pujols (first base)

23 Jim Tracy (bench)

Interleague Play

June 30 – The first interleague game between the Montreal Expos and the Toronto Blue Jays took place at SkyDome. The Expos won the game by a score of 2-1.^[11]

Expos vs. Jays

June 30, SkyDome, Toronto, Ontario

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Montreal	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	6	0
Toronto	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	3	0
W: Pedro Martínez (10-3) L: Pat Hentgen (8-5)
Home Runs: Vladimir Guerrero (4), Carlos Delgado (15) Attendance: 37,430 Time: 2:03

Batting

Montreal Expos	AB	R	H	RBI	Toronto Blue Jays	AB	R	H	RBI
Grudzielanek, ss	3	1	1	0	Nixon cf	4	0	1	0
Lansing 2b	4	0	0	0	Merced dh	4	0	0	0
Santangelo 3b	4	0	0	0	Carter lf	4	0	0	0
Segui 1b	3	0	2	1	Delgado 1b	2	1	1	1
Rodriguez lf	4	0	0	0	Sprague 3b	3	0	0	0
Orsulak lf	0	0	0	0	Green rf	3	0	0	0
Guerrero rf	4	1	2	1	Santiago c	3	0	0	0
McGuire dh	3	0	0	0	Gonzalez ss	3	0	1	0
White cf	3	0	0	0	Garcia 2b	3	0	0	0
Widger c	3	0	1	0	NONE	0	0	0	0
Totals	31	2	6	2	Totals	29	1	3	1

Pitching

Montreal Expos	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Martinez W (10-3)	9.0	3	1	1	1	10
Totals	9.0	3	1	1	1	10

Toronto Blue Jays	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Hentgen L (8-5)	9.0	6	2	2	1	3
Totals	9.0	6	2	2	1	3

Player stats

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At Bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting Average; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI

Starting pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO

Relief pitchers

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO

Award winners

Pedro Martínez, NL Cy Young Award
Pedro Martínez, Pitcher of the Month, August

1997 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

Pedro Martínez, Pitcher, Reserve

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Ottawa Lynx	International League	Pat Kelly
AA	Harrisburg Senators	Eastern League	Rick Sofield
A	West Palm Beach Expos	Florida State League	Doug Sisson
A	Cape Fear Crocs	South Atlantic League	Phil Stephenson
A-Short Season	Vermont Expos	New York–Penn League	Kevin Higgins
Rookie	GCL Expos	Gulf Coast League	Luis Dorante

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Harrisburg^[12]

References

↑ http://www.baseball-reference.com/h/habyajo01.shtml
↑ http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/silveda01.shtml
1 2 http://www.baseball-reference.com/l/lovulto01.shtml
1 2 Lee Smith Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
↑ http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/benitya01.shtml
↑ Cliff Floyd Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
↑ http://www.baseball-reference.com/r/rossyri01.shtml
↑ "Around the NL". St. Petersburg Times. 1997-03-27. p. 5C.
↑ http://www.baseball-reference.com/d/daalom01.shtml
↑ Jeff Juden Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
↑ http://baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/schedule.php?y=1997&t=TOR
↑ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

1997 Montreal Expos team at Baseball-Reference
1997 Montreal Expos team at baseball-almanac.com

1997 MLB season by team

AL East	Baltimore Boston Detroit New York Toronto
AL Central	Chicago Cleveland Kansas City Milwaukee Minnesota
AL West	Anaheim Oakland Seattle Texas

NL East	Atlanta Florida Montréal New York Philadelphia
NL Central	Chicago Cincinnati Houston Pittsburgh St. Louis
NL West	Colorado Los Angeles San Diego San Francisco

Montreal Expos

Now the Washington Nationals
Based in Montreal, Quebec (1969–2004)

Franchise

Ballparks

Jarry Park Olympic Stadium Hiram Bithorn Stadium
Spring training	City Island Ball Park Municipal Stadium Roger Dean Stadium Space Coast Stadium

Culture

Rivalries

Toronto Blue Jays

Retired numbers

Championships

National League East: 1981 (second half)

Legacy

Washington Nationals

Seasons (36)
1960s	1969
1970s	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s	1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s	1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s	2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

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