2003 Montreal Expos season


The 2003 Montreal Expos season was the 35th season for the Expos in Montreal and its penultimate season in Canada. It involved the Expos attempting to win the NL East. On August 28, 2003, the Expos led the NL Wild Card, tied for first place with the Marlins, Astros, Phillies, and Cardinals, but faded away in the stretch and failed to make the postseason, finishing 18 games back of the Atlanta Braves in the NL East and 8 games back of the Florida Marlins in the Wild Card. The Expos' 2003 record of 83-79 was identical to the one they finished with the previous year.

Offseason

Spring training

After holding spring training at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida, from 1998 through 2002, the Expos moved to Space Coast Stadium in Viera, Florida, for spring training in 2003. The move to Viera came about as the result of a deal in which Major League Baseball bought the Expos from Jeffrey Loria, who then purchased the Florida Marlins; as part of the deal, the Marlins traded spring training sites with the Expos, moving from Viera to Jupiter. The franchise, as the Expos in 2003 and 2004 and then from 2005 as the Washington Nationals, would hold spring training at Space Coast Stadium through 2016.

Regular season

On August 30, 2002, MLB signed a collective bargaining agreement with
the players association, which prohibited contraction through the end of the agreement in 2006.
Ultimately, the Expos finished 8 games behind the Wild Card Florida Marlins.

Puerto Rico

Although their attendance increased from 7,935 per game in 2001
to 10,031 in 2002,
MLB decided that the Expos would play 22 of their home games at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 2003. Despite being a considerably smaller facility than Montreal's Olympic Stadium, attendance in San Juan's Hiram Bithorn Stadium averaged 14,222, compared with 12,081 in Montreal.
The Puerto Rican baseball fans embraced "Los Expos" as their home team, all the while hoping the team would make a permanent move to Puerto Rico. Thanks in part to the San Juan games, the Expos were able to draw over a million fans at home in 2003 for the first time since 1997. The Expos' season in Puerto Rico was chronicled in the MLB-produced DVD Boricua Beisbol – Passion of Puerto Rico.

Opening Day lineup

Source

Season standings

National League East

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions

Game log

Attendance

Including both games played in Montreal and "home" games played in San Juan, the Expos drew 1,025,639 fans during the 2003 season, and were 16th in attendance among the 16 National League teams. Their highest attendance for the season was a game in Montreal on April 22, which attracted 36,879 fans to see them play the Arizona Diamondbacks, while their lowest was for a game in Montreal on May 7 against the San Diego Padres, which drew only 5,111 fans. For games played in San Juan, the largest crowd was 18,264 for a game against the New York Mets on April 12, and the smallest was a crowd of 10,034 that came to a game against the Anaheim Angels on June 3.

Player stats

Batting

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; AVG = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases
Complete offensive statistics are available .
PosPlayerGABRH2B3BHRRBIAVGSB
C1083353477261946.2300
1B130436571212701671.2781
2B144509771583601565.3103
SS162626951864721780.29724
3B1052273159101110.2605
LF146504781353441977.26813
CF14148366121255547.25118
RF112394711302032579.3309
OF1263403681171952.2389
UT1112723165152422.2394
C702263347921030.2080
3B531751534650215.1942
2B10015429373107.24011
3B52146153550114.2400
3B34136112922519.2571
1B358861730318.1930
UT3876122660313.3420
OF58021000.2500
P31742141006.1890
P32655100106.1540
P33552100003.1821
P2347220002.0430
P2130100000.0000
P4419151000.2630
P510020000.2000
P135000000.0000
P674110000.2500
P43000000.0000
P302000000.0000
P62100000.0000
P482000000.0000
P1200000000
P711000000.0000
P51000000.0000
P621000000.0000
P21000000.0000
P11000000.0000
P281000000.0000
P71000000.0000
P191000000.0000
P200000000
P500000000
P200000000
Totals1625437711140429425144682.258100

Pitching

Note: Pos = Position; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts
Complete pitching statistics are available
PosPlayerWLERAGGSSVIPRERBBK
SP1513.2033330233.1928357178
SP13123.2434340230.3938357241
SP10124.1634340199.01069245118
SP984.1823230131.164615961
SP684.3423200114.059554162
CL584.6573034171.243374054
RP234.73457080.049422047
RP1032.92650571.027231346
RP223.06700153.027181340
RP313.98510043.022191329
225.26320037.222191329
212.6155031.099823
116.83280029.022221726
124.13230128.113131715
125.12131019.11211617
018.3643014.0131385
101.64120111.022312
0212.466108.2121283
000.005007.13053
001.235007.12132
0010.806006.28814
006.754004.03351
0115.001103.05534
0013.502002.03311
0027.002001.14421
Totals83794.01162162421437.27166404631028

Award winners

2003 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

Farm system