Montreal Expos: Top 3 Opening Day starters from years past

Montreal Expos: Top 3 Opening Day starters from years past

Cy- Steve Rogers

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Steve Rogers spent his entire thirteen-year career in a Montreal Expos uniform. He was a five-time All-Star and toed the rubber for a franchise-high nine opening-day starts.

When looking at a list of Montreal Expos all-time pitching leaders, Steve Rogers heads the list in the majority of categories. Career wins, strikeouts, games started, complete games, shutouts, and Wins Above Replacement for pitchers, are all categories Rogers sits on top of. He was a stat-sheet-stuffer and a mainstay in the Montreal clubhouse through the 70s and early 80s.

The statistics are there and the fact Rogers spent his entire tenure with one team is very impressive. Steve Rogers played on some very good Montreal Expos teams though only once was he fortunate to pitch in the postseason. He may be remembered best for surrendering the home run to Rick Monday of the Los Angeles Dodgers which eliminated the Expos from the postseason in 1981. The day is tragically remembered as Blue Monday for Expos fans.

To get to the series with the Dodgers, the Expos had to first get passed the Philadelphia Phillies. Rogers outdueled Steve Carlton head to head, twice, giving up only one run in 17 2/3 innings. Carlton sandwiched the ’81 season with Cy Young Awards and won 60 games in those three years, and he was outpitched in two games in the playoffs by Steve Rogers.

To be the best you have to beat the best, and Cy lived up to his nickname by outpitching a Cy Young award winner when it mattered the most.