Nats in World Series 25 years after Expos never got chance

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pedro Martínez stood on the field before Game 4 of the World Series and pictured himself on the mound.

"I was supposed to be pitching in this game tonight," he said.

Martínez was the No. 4 starter for the 1994 Montreal Expos, who were the best team in baseball on the morning of Aug. 12 when players went on strike, leading to the cancellation of the rest of the season. Now the Washington Nationals — the former Expos — are in the World Series with a chance to accomplish what so many thought the Expos would have done 25 years ago if they got the opportunity.

"Everybody in the Nationals is starting to do something that we expected to be 25 years ago," Martínez said. "We were destined to go to the World Series. It got suspended. We never had a chance to get a crack at it, and it would never be recognized as one of those seasons where we were supposed to be in that game."

The '94 Expos had five All-Stars — not counting a future Hall of Famer in Martínez, career .313 hitter Larry Walker and 1996 World Series MVP John Wetteland — and were a major league-best 74-40 at the time of the strike. They won 20 of their last 23 games, led the mighty Atlanta Braves by six games in the NL East and looked like favorites to help Canada capture three consecutive titles after the Toronto Blue Jays won in 1992 and 1993.

With little warning, Montreal was a juggernaut and looked to make the playoffs for the second time in franchise history and first since 1981. With a pitching staff so deep that a 22-year-old Martínez was fourth in the rotation, he believes the Expos would've won it all.

"We were well on our way to doing that," said Martínez, now an MLB Network analyst. "We were young, energetic — we knew the fundamentals of the game by being managed by Felipe (Alou). Felipe was great at teaching us the...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Nats-in-World-Series-25-years-after-Expos-never-14567245.php