The 1994 Montreal Expos were leading the National League East by 6 games over the Atlanta Braves with only 48 games remaining until the end of the season.  The Expos had a talented team that would have contended for a World Series Championship that season but that all came crashing down when on August 12, 1994 commissioner Bud Selig announced that the rest of the 1994 season including the playoffs had been canceled because the players and owners couldn't agree on a new collective bargaining agreement.

The Expos window slammed shut right after the 1994 season.  The owner of the Expos Claude Brochu ordered the General Manager Kevin Malone to cut payroll before the start of the 1995 season and the Expos were gutted.  The major overhaul that the Expos went through destroyed the franchise it also killed the Expos campaign for a new stadium and it disheartened the fan base.  The 3 seasons following the 94 season saw the Expos draw over 1 million in attendance each season but the team couldn't match the success that the 1994 Expos were having and the fans slowly stopped coming.

Here's how the Expos season was going when the 1994 season was canceled on August 12, 1994
Record: 74-40
Divison: 1st by 6.0 Games over the Atlanta Braves
Record in August: 9-2
Projected Record in the last 48 Games: 31-17
Expos Projected Record: 105-57

A look at some of the key players from the Expos Roster in 1994 and some of the changes the Expos made after the strike in 1994.

Larry Walker:  The Expos granted Walker free agency on October 24, 1994.   Larry Walker has said that he does wonder what would have happened if the Expos kept the team together.  Walker told ESPN in 1995 "I was willing to take a cut to keep the team together, but I was never offered a contract.  Where did the money go? We may never know."

Ken Hill: Traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for Kirk Bullinger, Bryan Eversgard, and Da Rond Stovall on April 5, 1995.  

John Wetteland: Traded to the New York Yankees for Fernando Seguignol on April 5, 1995

Marquis Grissom: Traded to the Atlanta Braves for Tony Torasco, Esteban Yan, and Roberto Kelly on April 6, 1995

Jeff Fassero: Traded to the Seattle Mariners for Trey Moore, Matt Wagner, and Chris Widger on October 29, 1996

Moises Alou: Granted free agency by the Montreal Expos on December 7, 1996

Cliff Floyd: Traded to the Florida Marlins for Joe Orsulak and Dustin Hermanson on March 26, 1997

Pedro Martinez:  Traded to the Boston Red Sox for Carl Pavano and Tony Armas Jr. on November 18, 1997.   

The trade of Pedro Martinez to Boston was the final piece of the Expos 1994 team to be moved, and the Expos had a promising young outfielder named Vladimir Guerrero but he couldn't carry the Expos by himself. 

I strongly believe that if the 1994 season hadn't been canceled I believe that the Expos would have won the World Series that season and that they would have been a contender to win more championships if management had committed the money to keep the team together.  I also believe that there would still be a team in Montreal today if it wasn't for the strike, not saying that Washington D.C. wouldn't have had a team but I doubt the Expos would have moved.

I strongly believe that the 1994 Montreal Expos are the best team that never got a chance to play in the World Series.  I'm not counting the 1904 New York Giants since they chose not to play in the World Series that season.  I'm speculating that the Montreal Expos would be representing the National League in the World Series that season.  I'm not counting teams that lost in the playoffs like the 2001 Seattle Mariners who won 116 games because they got a chance to play in the playoffs.