1989 Montreal Expos season

1989 Montreal Expos
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s) Charles Bronfman
General manager(s) Dave Dombrowski
Manager(s) Buck Rodgers
Local television CBC Television
(Dave Van Horne, Ken Singleton)
The Sports Network
(Ken Singleton, Jim Hughson)
Télévision de Radio-Canada
(Claude Raymond, Raymond Lebrun)
Local radio CJAD (English)
(Dave Van Horne, Bobby Winkles, Jerry Trupiano)
CKAC (French)
(Jacques Doucet, Rodger Brulotte)
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The 1989 season for the Montreal Expos was the baseball club's 21st. With owner Charles Bronfman thinking of selling the team he founded, he wanted to take one last shot at a playoff berth. Bronfman gave young general manager Dave Dombrowski a clear mandate to win now, reportedly telling him he had all the financial ressources needed in the quest to bring a championship to Montreal. Dombrowski pulled off a massive trade on May 25, acquiring star left-handed pitcher – and pending free agent – Mark Langston from the Seattle Mariners. While the move was viewed as a coup at the time, it came at a heavy cost as a young, very tall and very raw Randy Johnson was the key part of the package going to the Pacific Northwest. Johnson would eventually harness his fantastic stuff and became one of the game's most dominant left-handed pitchers for well over a decade. Still, it seemed like a worthy gamble at the time for the Expos. That year, there was no dominant team in the National League. The team seemed poised to compete for the NL East crown with a loaded starting pitching staff that featured Langston, Dennis Martínez, Bryn Smith, Pascual Perez and Kevin Gross.

The team peaked on August 2 with an NL best record of 63-44, holding a 3-game lead in the NL East and everything running along smoothly. What followed would go down as the greatest collapse in franchise history. The next night, a Benny Distefano pinch hit single in the 12th inning dealt the Expos a 1-0 loss in Pittsburgh. It was the start of a 7-game losing streak. The club limped through the rest of August but remained in the race in early September, with the team being only 2 games back of 1st place on September 6. Regardless, the downward spiral continued as the Expos inexplicably ended up losing 37 of their final 55 games to finish the season a disappointing 81-81, well out of the playoff picture. The easiest analysis of the collapse is to point to the offence, which struggled after August 2, scoring an MLB worst 3.23 runs per game. For long-time Expos fans, the collapse is viewed as the beginning of the end of the franchise. If the team makes the playoffs, perhaps even wins the NLCS against a beatable Giants team to make it to the World Series, one can only wonder if Bronfman changes his stance about selling the team and remains the owner.

Offseason

Regular season

Opening Day starters

Season standings

NL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
Chicago Cubs 93 69 0.574 — 48–33 45–36
New York Mets 87 75 0.537 6 51–30 36–45
St. Louis Cardinals 86 76 0.531 7 46–35 40–41
Montreal Expos 81 81 0.500 12 44–37 37–44
Pittsburgh Pirates 74 88 0.457 19 39–42 35–46
Philadelphia Phillies 67 95 0.414 26 38–42 29–53

Record vs. opponents

1989 National League Records

Sources:
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
Atlanta — 5–7 8–10 8–10 6–10 6–6 2–10 8–4 4–8 7–11 6–12 3–9–1
Chicago 7–5 — 7–5 5–7 7–5 10–8 10–8 10–8 12–6 8–4 6–6 11–7
Cincinnati 10–8 5–7 — 8–10 8–10 4–8 4–8 4–8 7–5 9–9 8–10 8–4
Houston 10–8 7–5 10–8 — 10–8 4–8 6–6 9–3 7–5 8–10 8–10 7–5
Los Angeles 10–6 5–7 10–8 8–10 — 7–5 5–7 6–6 7–5 6–12 10–8 3–9
Montreal 6–6 8–10 8–4 8–4 5–7 — 9–9 9–9 11–7 5–7 7–5 5–13
New York 10–2 8–10 8–4 6–6 7–5 9–9 — 12–6 9–9 5–7 3–9 10–8
Philadelphia 4-8 8–10 8–4 3–9 6–6 9–9 6–12 — 10–8–1 2–10 4–8 7–11
Pittsburgh 8–4 6–12 5–7 5–7 5–7 7–11 9–9 8–10–1 — 3–9 5–7 13–5–1
San Diego 11–7 4–8 9–9 10–8 12–6 7–5 7–5 10–2 9–3 — 8–10 2–10
San Francisco 12–6 6–6 10–8 10–8 8–10 5–7 9–3 8–4 7–5 10–8 — 7–5
St. Louis 9–3–1 7–11 4–8 5–7 9–3 13–5 8–10 11–7 5–13–1 10–2 5–7 —

Notable transactions

Draft Picks

Major League debuts

Roster

1989 Montreal Expos
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

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; SB = Stolen Bases

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI SB
C Santovenia, NelsonNelson Santovenia 97 304 76 .250 5 31 2
1B Galarraga, AndrésAndrés Galarraga 152 572 147 .257 23 85 12
2B Foley, TomTom Foley 122 375 86 .229 7 39 2
3B Wallach, TimTim Wallach 154 573 159 .277 13 77 3
SS Owen, SpikeSpike Owen 142 437 102 .233 6 41 3
LF Raines, TimTim Raines 145 517 148 .286 9 60 41
CF Martinez, DaveDave Martinez 126 361 99 .274 3 27 23
RF Brooks, HubieHubie Brooks 148 542 145 .268 14 70 6

Other batters

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI SB
Hudler, RexRex Hudler 92 155 38 .245 6 13
Aldrete, MikeMike Aldrete 76 136 30 .221 1 12

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Martínez, DennisDennis Martínez 34 232 16 7 3.18 142
Langston, MarkMark Langston 24 176.2 12 9 2.39 175

Other pitchers

Player G IP W L ERA SO

Relief pitchers

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Harris, GeneGene Harris 11 1 1 0 4.95 11

Award winners

1989 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Indianapolis Indians American Association Tom Runnells
AA Jacksonville Expos Southern League Alan Bannister
A West Palm Beach Expos Florida State League Felipe Alou
A Rockford Expos Midwest League Mike Quade
A-Short Season Jamestown Expos New York–Penn League Don Werner
Rookie GCL Expos Gulf Coast League Jerry Weinstein

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Indianapolis, Jamestown[10]

References

  1. ↑ Mike Aldrete at Baseball-Reference
  2. ↑ Spike Owen at Baseball-Reference
  3. ↑ Mark Langston at Baseball-Reference
  4. ↑ Zane Smith at Baseball-Reference
  5. ↑ Doug Piatt at Baseball-Reference
  6. ↑ John Candelaria at Baseball-Reference
  7. ↑ Charles Johnson at Baseball-Reference
  8. ↑ Doug Bochtler at Baseball-Reference
  9. ↑ http://www.thebaseballcube.com/statistics/1989/18.shtml
  10. ↑ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
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