All week, TSN will be rebroadcasting memorable games from the Montreal Expos’ 1981 playoff run, including the very first Major League Baseball postseason game played outside of the United States.

You can catch Game 2 of the 1981 National League Divisional Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and Montreal Expos on Tuesday at 4:30pm et/1:30pm pt on TSN5, the TSN app, streaming on TSN Direct and on TSN.ca.

An interesting piece of trivia emerged ahead of Game 2 of the National League West Division Series that didn’t work in the Philadelphia Phillies’ favour: No American team had ever won a Major League Baseball playoff game outside of the United States.

Sure, there had only been one playoff game played outside of the United States before – Game 1, played the previous day on Oct. 7 – but a stat is a stat: The Montreal Expos had won every single playoff game contested in Canada and they were only two games away from advancing to the National League Championship Series.

Game 1 between the two teams ended up being the pitchers’ duel that most had envisioned when Steve Rogers faced Steve Carlton as the low-scoring affair that was in the cards came to pass, but very early on, it didn’t look that way.

Rogers found himself in trouble in the top half of the first. Pete Rose grounded into a 4-6-2 double play to erase Lonnie Smith’s lead-off single, but Gary Matthews tripled with two outs and Rogers walked Mike Schmidt to put runners on the corners. But the dam wouldn’t burst as Rogers struck out Bake McBride to end the inning.

The Expos would take the lead in the bottom half of the frame, thanks to Gary Carter. With two outs and Jerry White on second after a stolen base, Carter ripped a double over the head of Matthews and off the wall in left-centre to make it 1-0.

The lead would be short-lived, though. The Phillies would pull back even with the first batter in the top of the second. Rogers hung a breaking ball over the plate and Keith Moreland crushed the offering to dead centre, just clearing the fence. The game was tied 1-1.

Tim Wallach would lead off the bottom half of the second by lining a ball into the gap that Smith had trouble corralling, leaving Wallach with a double. After future big league manager Jerry Manuel lined out to future big league manager Larry Bowa at short, Chris Speier’s double to left cashed in Wallach and restored the Expos’ lead at 2-1.

From that point on, Rogers would cruise. Getting an insurance run on a Warren Cromartie RBI double in the fourth, Rogers pitched all the way into the ninth with the Expos leading 3-1. Schmidt would lead off the inning grounding out with the next batter, McBride, following suit. With two down, Rogers surrendered back-to-back singles to Moreland and pinch-hitter George Vukovich (batting for Bowa). With two on and two out, Expos manager Jim Fanning finally turned to his bullpen.

Rogers finished his day giving up one earned run on 10 hits and a pair of walks over 8.2 innings pitched. He struck out three batters and stood to get the victory.

Fanning brought in his new closer, Jeff Reardon, who was acquired midway through the season from the New York Mets in a trade for popular outfielder Ellis Valentine. Lights out in the regular season, Reardon would only face a single batter. Manny Trillo flew out to yet another future big league manager in Terry Francona in left to end the threat and the game. The Expos win 3-1 to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

With their ace beaten and now only two games away from their season ending and their pursuit of a second straight World Series title falling to the wayside, Dallas Green would turn to veteran righty Dick Ruthven to start Game 2. In his ninth season and second stint with the Phillies, Ruthven was an All-Star in 1981. He finished the season at 12-7 with an earned run average of 5.15 and a 1.473 WHIP over 146.1 innings pitched. The start would be Ruthven’s fifth in 1981 against the Expos, having gone 1-2 with a 6.55 ERA in the previous four starts.

The Expos would counter with young right-hander Bill Gullickson. In his third MLB season at the age of 22, Gullickson was in his first campaign solely as a starter. In 22 starts in 1981, Gullickson was 7-9 with a 2.80 ERA and 1.119 WHIP over 157.1 IP. He had made three starts against the Phillies that season, going 0-1 with a 3.56 ERA.

Could the world champions get back in the series or would the upstart Expos put a stranglehold on the NLDS?