Montreal Expos on the mlb.com front page

Well, sort of. It relates to Randy Johnson, and his attempt at getting win number 300 in his MLB pitching career. It will be against the Washington Nationals, what used to be the Montreal Expos, Johnson's first MLB club.

His first MLB affiliated club was the Jamestown Expos, now the Vermont Lake Monsters, back in 1985.

His MLB debut came September 15, 1988. In his debut, he earned the win, pitching 5 innings, giving up 6 hits, and 2 runs, all earned. His counterpart, Dave LaPoint was credited with the loss, also going 5 IP, but giving up 8 hits, and 7 runs, 6 earned. Both gave up 2 home runs, but Johnson struck out 5 while LaPoint only struck out 2. Both of the home runs Randy Johnson allowed were from Glenn Wilson.

He was originally signed by the Atlanta Braves in the fourth round in 1982 89th overall, but did not sign. He went in the second round to the Expos in 1985, 36th overall. With the Braves it was out of Livermore HS (CA), and with the Expos out of the University of Southern California.

He only played in 33 games as an Expo. His transaction to the Mariners was as follows:
May 25, 1989, he was traded by Montreal with Brian Holman and Gene Harris to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for Mark Langston and a player to be named later. The PTBNL was Mike Campbell, July 31, 1989.

Randy Johnson as an Expo on the mlb front page
Trying for 300
Win 299.
Full coverage.

If that was not enough Canadian Content, the front page also links to this:

Quest for the Cup sparks MLB debate: Many personalities have strong hockey ties, give Finals picks. So there are no Canadian teams, but everyone knows we like our hockey. Despite no Canadian teams, I would not be surprised if the ratings are better for the Finals up here.

Winter Classic 2009 at Wrigley Field

There is plenty going on this baseball offseason, but the baseball news I am most looking forward to at this moment is the second NHL Winter Classic, taking place New Year's Day at Wrigley Field!

It is the second regular season NHL game to be played outside in the US, and third overall. The first was Montreal at Edmonton in 2003, it was dubbed the Heritage Classic. It will face the Detroit Red Wings against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Both teams are part of the Original Six. (From Wikipedia: The Original Six is a well-known term for the group of six teams that composed the National Hockey League (NHL) for the 25 seasons between the 1942-43 season and the 1967 NHL Expansion.) And as Wikipedia states, there were other teams prior, and during that time, however those are the ones still around. The Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks were both founded in 1926. The Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL) folded, and the Portland Rosebuds became the Chicago Black Hawks (They were known as the Black Hawks from 1926 until 1986), and the Victoria Cougars became the Detroit Red Wings. The Portland Rosebuds, of Portland Oregon were originally the Regina Capitals for the short time the WCHL existed, but moved to Oregon for what would end up being their final season. The Victoria Cougars were from Victoria, British Columbia.

As last years Winter Classic (Pittsburgh Penguins at Buffalo Sabres), they'll be wearing vintage jerseys. Chicago's dates back to 1937 (till 1955), and Detroit's dates back to 1926, as an alternate logo. They were know as the Detroit Cougars from 1926 to 1930, and the Detroit Falcons from 1930 to 1932. Thus being the Red Wings from 1932 to the present.

I wouldn't normally post videos in this blog but this is worth it. The sweet commercial for the Winter Classic, using "Take Me Out to the Ball" Game as background music. See the game on NBC in the US, CBC or RDS in Canada January 1st at 1PM EST. (NHL Send me a Winter Classic jersey for the plug!)

Theoren Fleury to play with the Calgary Vipers

Being a Canadian, this is of interest, as I am a hockey fan.

Former Calgary Flame (and other teams) Theoren Fleury will play for the Calgary Vipers of the Golden Baseball League starting August 10.

I found a good article which touches on it, but focuses more on independent baseball in Canada, and the Vancouver Canadians, the last MLB affiliated baseball tam in Canada (single A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics). There's a new reality for baseball's Boys of Summer.
Minor-league clubs forced to seek different revenue streams.

Read the more recent article at sportsnet.ca.