‘Who Killed the Montreal Expos’: Netflix digs into the Montreal Expos’ collapse
For Montrealers, the Expos were never just a team. For them, it was summer afternoons in Olympic Stadium, a first taste of peanuts and hot dogs, and the thrill of hearing names like Pedro Martínez or Vladimir Guerrero echo across the city. And now, two decades after their final game, Netflix is asking the question fans still whisper: Who Killed the Montreal Expos?
The franchise meant more than wins or losses to the people of Montreal. They were Canada’s first Major League ballclub and a source of pride that carried Québécois identity onto the world stage. Generations grew up in Expos caps, and for thirty-five years, the team was stitched into the rhythm of Montreal life.
But then came the year 2004, when the club was uprooted and shipped to Washington to become the Nationals. The loss felt personal and was surely experienced by every Montreal fan. It felt like the end of that beautiful relationship, which ends when one has to move.
That heartbreak is the basis of Netflix’s new documentary, Who Killed the Montreal Expos. It is directed by Jean-François Poisson, and it peels back the layers of what really happened.
From the ownership battles to the stadium politics to the post-strike slump and the cold calculations of Major League Baseball, everything is going to be discussed in this doc. For years, this has been a mystery: how did something so beloved slip away so quickly, and who bears the blame? The Netflix documentary tries to find the answers to that.
One of the best parts about this doc is that it brings in the voices that were there when it happened. Hall of Famers like Martínez, Guerrero, Larry Walker, and Felipe Alou will talk about what happened and what it meant to wear the Expos uniform. Executives like Claude Brochu and David Samson are also participating and will reflect on choices that still divide fans.
And in between, archival footage will take us back to Montreal’s golden moments. The purpose of this documentary is to find the truth, but also to make you nostalgic by taking you back to the time when the stands used to be packed and the promises of the 1994 season, and ultimately the bittersweet cheers of that final game in September 2004.
The documentary is intended to show the joy the Expos gave a city and the mistakes that drove them away. More importantly, it will focus on the pain of a loss that still hasn’t healed. And it makes the title question feel even sharper.
Who Killed the Montreal Expos will premiere on Netflix on October 21st. For Montrealers, it’s a reminder of what was taken. For everyone else, it’s proof of how deeply a team can matter long after the last pitch has been thrown.