1997 Montreal Expos season explained

Montreal Expos
Season:	1997
League:	National League
Division:	East
Ballpark:	Olympic Stadium
City:	Montreal
Owners:	Claude Brochu
General Managers:	Jim Beattie
Managers:	Felipe Alou
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)
Radio:	CIQC (Dave Van Horne, Elliott Price, Joe Cannon, Gary Carter) CKAC (AM) (Jacques Doucet, Rodger Brulotte,Alain Chantelois)
Record:	78–84
Divisional Place:	4th

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 National League 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: John 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

Record vs. opponents

Team!colspan=5
BAL	BOS	DET	NYY	TOR
AL East
Montreal	2–1	3–0	3–0	2–1	2–1

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		CatchersInfielders		Outfielders		ManagerCoaches (Bullpen) (Pitching) (Hitting) (Third base) (First base) (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

align=left width=28%	Team	width=6%	1	width=6%	2	width=6%	3	width=6%	4	width=6%	5	width=6%	6	width=6%	7	width=6%	8	width=6%	9	width=6%	R	width=6%	H	width=6%	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

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	91	278	65	.234	7	37
1B	125	459	141	.307	21	68
2B	144	572	161	.281	20	70
SS	156	649	177	.273	4	51
3B	118	327	84	.257	12	47
LF	132	476	116	.244	26	83
CF	151	592	160	.270	28	82
RF	90	325	98	.302	11	40

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
130	350	87	.249	5	31
96	310	86	.277	17	55
84	199	51	.256	3	17
67	169	42	.249	2	17
106	150	34	.227	1	7
76	107	24	.224	1	5
18	64	13	.203	4	9
41	47	6	.128	2	9
19	40	12	.300	3	8
13	26	7	.269	0	2
16	24	7	.292	2	6
16	18	4	.222	0	2

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
31	241.1	17	8	1.90	305
33	206.2	12	13	3.88	110
32	158.1	8	8	3.69	136
22	130.0	11	5	4.22	107
11	50.0	2	5	5.94	28
1	1.1	0	1	33.75	0

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
36	155.1	7	12	5.56	87
48	95.0	4	4	3.13	54
9	18.0	1	2	12.00	8
5	11.2	1	0	5.40	8

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
63	5	8	27	3.78	84
65	4	6	1	3.24	61
53	2	3	1	3.48	47
33	1	2	1	9.79	16
26	1	3	0	6.15	20
25	0	1	5	5.82	15
23	2	1	0	5.52	29
16	0	1	0	3.18	8
12	0	0	0	7.25	11
5	0	0	0	3.38	2
3	0	1	0	16.20	2

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

External links

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

Notes and References

Web site: John Habyan Stats.
Web site: Dave Silvestri Stats.
Web site: Torey Lovullo Stats.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/smithle02.shtml Lee Smith Statistics
Web site: Yamil Benitez Stats.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/f/floydcl01.shtml Cliff Floyd Statistics
Web site: Rico Rossy Stats.
News: Around the NL. St. Petersburg Times. 1997-03-27 . 5C.
Web site: Omar Daal Stats.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/j/judenje01.shtml Jeff Juden Statistics
Web site: 1997 Toronto Blue Jays Schedule by Baseball Almanac.
Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007