Netflix’s ‘Who Killed the Montreal Expos?’ focuses on suspects and raw emotion

The timing of the new Netflix sports documentary, Who Killed the Montreal Expos?, couldn’t be better— or worse, depending on where you live, because Canadian baseball is in the North American spotlight again.

Toronto and Montreal are at opposite ends of the spectrum in that realm. The Blue Jays have returned to the World Series for the first time since 1993, gunning for their third championship. The Expos (R.I.P.) died when the franchise relocated to Washington after the 2004 season, becoming the Nationals. When you hear the heartbreak in director Jean-François Poisson’s documentary, many of the interviewees sound like they’re recalling the final days of a loved one.

There is sadness, bitterness, and sheer anger. When emotions run this high, people want someone and/or something to blame.

In Who Killed the Montreal Expos?, the likely answers are simple yet complicated.

David Samson (former Expos executive vice president) and Jeffrey Loria (former team owner and Samson’s then-stepfather) both played roles in the demise. However, to characterize them as the only villains in this drama is inaccurate. Poisson outlines all the key players and circumstances that led to the Expos’ demise.

Credit Samson for participating in the documentary. He didn’t have to. He has been out of Major League Baseball since 2017. Accuse him of being an unreliable or biased source if you want. However, he has little to gain here by not being forthcoming. (FYI: unsurprisingly, Loria is not in the documentary.) Samson refutes the notion that he and Loria were part of a grand conspiracy from the start to move the Expos to a city in the United States.

Samson makes plausible points that several individuals played a part in the Expos’ No. 1 problem: finding a new home to replace Olympic Stadium, and then later tried to minimize their involvement in what led to the eventual relocation. Samson and Loria were easy targets because not only were they the public faces of the fiasco, but they were also Americans for a team that badly needed Canadian ownership. Former owner Charles Bronfman sold the team in 1991 to an ownership group headed by Claude Brochu. Brochu, who was interviewed for this documentary, was unable to get a new stadium deal. Loria bought an ownership stake in 1999 and took control in 2001.

Poisson’s thoughtful documentary highlights that what killed the Expos is easier to answer than who killed the Expos. Follow the (lack) of money. If the Expos had a local businessperson with deep pockets, combined with government financial support, the Expos would still be playing in Montreal today.

The passion was there. Watch and listen to how media members, fans, and players reminisce about the 1994 team in Who Killed the Montreal Expos? It was a star-studded squad featuring five All-Stars, and that didn’t even include future Hall of Famers Pedro Martínez and Larry Walker. Those Expos had an MLB-best 74-40 record until the strike caused the season to come to an unsatisfying end. The work stoppage wasn’t the primary cause for the Expos’ end, but it certainly didn’t help.

The most somber moment in Who Killed the Montreal Expos? is when the interviewees recall the final game on Sept. 29, 2004. Watching that footage seems like replaying a funeral. People crying in the stands, crying during the broadcast, crying at the recollection of the worst day in Canadian baseball history.

Claude Raymond, a Canadian, a former Expo, and broadcaster, summed up the emotions: “I really loved my career. I’m thankful for each and every season with the Expos, and then all of a sudden, there’s no baseball in your life. But that’s it?”

Another powerful voice in Who Killed the Montreal Expos? is Pedro Martínez. When asked if baseball would ever return to Montreal, Martínez said, “Yes.” He added, “Baseball in Montreal is not dead. It will never be.”

Who Killed the Montreal Expos? is streaming on Netflix.