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. November 15, 1996: Dave Silvestri was selected off waivers by the Seattle Mariners from the Montreal Expos. December 17, 1996: Torey Lovullo was signed as a free agent with the Montreal Expos. January 21, 1997: Lee Smith signed as a free agent with the Montreal Expos.Lee Smith Statistics Baseball-Reference.com January 28, 1997: Yamil Benitez was traded by the Montreal Expos to the Kansas City Royals for Melvin Bunch. March 26, 1997: Cliff Floyd was traded by the Montreal Expos to the Florida Marlins for Dustin Hermanson and Joe Orsulak.Cliff Floyd Statistics Baseball-Reference.com March 31, 1997: Rico Rossy was signed as a free agent with the Montreal Expos.

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. 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 Shane Andrews Jim Bullinger Darrin Fletcher Mark Grudzielanek Mike Lansing Joe Orsulak Henry Rodríguez David Segui Rondell White

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

+Expos vs. American LeagueTeamAL EastBALBOSDETNYYTORMontreal2–13–03–02–12–1

Notable transactions May 20, 1997: Torey Lovullo was released by the Montreal Expos. July 25, 1997: Omar Daal was selected off waivers by the Toronto Blue Jays from the Montreal Expos. July 31, 1997: Jeff Juden was traded by the Montreal Expos to the Cleveland Indians for Steve Kline.Jeff Juden Statistics Baseball-Reference.com September 25, 1997: Lee Smith was released by the Montreal Expos.

Roster 1997 Montreal Expos Roster Pitchers Catchers

Infielders Outfielders Manager

Coaches (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.

Expos vs. Jays June 30, SkyDome, Toronto, Ontario Team123456789RHEMontreal010001000260Toronto000000100130W: 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 ExposABRHRBIToronto Blue JaysABRHRBIGrudzielanek, ss3110Nixon cf4010Lansing 2b4000Merced dh4000Santangelo 3b4000Carter lf4000Segui 1b3021Delgado 1b2111Rodriguez lf4000Sprague 3b3000Orsulak lf0000Green rf3000Guerrero rf4121Santiago c3000McGuire dh3000Gonzalez ss3010White cf3000Garcia 2b3000Widger c3010NONE0000Totals31262Totals29131

Pitching Montreal ExposIPHRERBBSOMartinez W (10–3)9.0311110Totals9.0311110

Toronto Blue JaysIPHRERBBSOHentgen L (8–5)9.062213Totals9.062213

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 Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI C Chris Widger 91 278 65 .234 7 37 1B David Segui 125 459 141 .307 21 68 2B Mike Lansing 144 572 161 .281 20 70 SS Mark Grudzielanek 156 649 177 .273 4 51 3B Doug Strange 118 327 84 .257 12 47 LF Henry Rodriguez 132 476 116 .244 26 83 CF Rondell White 151 592 160 .270 28 82 RF Vladimir Guerrero 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 Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI F.P. Santangelo 130 350 87 .249 5 31 Darrin Fletcher 96 310 86 .277 17 55 Ryan McGuire 84 199 51 .256 3 17 José Vidro 67 169 42 .249 2 17 Joe Orsulak 106 150 34 .227 1 7 Andy Stankiewicz 76 107 24 .224 1 5 Shane Andrews 18 64 13 .203 4 9 Sherman Obando 41 47 6 .128 2 9 Brad Fullmer 19 40 12 .300 3 8 Raúl Chávez 13 26 7 .269 0 2 Hensley Meulens 16 24 7 .292 2 6 Orlando Cabrera 16 18 4 .222 0 2

Pitching

= Indicates league leader

Starting pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L ERA SO Pedro Martínez 31 241.1 17 8 1.90 305 Carlos Pérez 33 206.2 12 13 3.88 110 Dustin Hermanson 32 158.1 8 8 3.69 136 Jeff Juden 22 130.0 11 5 4.22 107 Mike Johnson 11 50.0 2 5 5.94 28 Rhéal Cormier 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 Player G IP W L ERA SO Jim Bullinger 36 155.1 7 12 5.56 87 Marc Valdes 48 95.0 4 4 3.13 54 José Paniagua 9 18.0 1 2 12.00 8 Mike Thurman 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 Player G W L SV ERA SO Ugueth Urbina 63 5 8 27 3.78 84 Anthony Telford 65 4 6 1 3.24 61 Dave Veres 53 2 3 1 3.48 47 Omar Daal 33 1 2 1 9.79 16 Steve Kline 26 1 3 0 6.15 20 Lee Smith 25 0 1 5 5.82 15 Rick DeHart 23 2 1 0 5.52 29 Shayne Bennett 16 0 1 0 3.18 8 Salomón Torres 12 0 0 0 7.25 11 Steve Falteisek 5 0 0 0 3.38 2 Everett Stull 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

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: HarrisburgJohnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

References

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