With the Rams rebooting in Los Angeles, ESPN.com presents a series exploring the remnants departed teams have left behind in the cities they abandoned.

Youppi! is as effervescent and goofy as any mascot in sports.

He's bubbly, orange, furry and shaped like a big pear. Everything about him is jovial.

But when the Montreal Expos relocated to Washington following the 2004 MLB season, it looked as if Youppi! would be orphaned. With fans already resigned to losing a franchise, the prospect of losing the beloved mascot would have added the proverbial insult to injury. Youppi! had joined the Expos in 1979 and grew to become an indelible part of the franchise while accruing 26 seasons of MLB service time.

"In the lean years, Youppi! was basically the most popular Expo," said Montreal native Jon Trzcienski, executive director of marketing for the NHL's Canadiens and a former Expos employee. "There were some instances where you saw Youppi! on the pocket schedule or the media guide as opposed to some of the players."

With that in mind, the Canadiens bought the rights to Youppi! from MLB, creating a permanent link between the NHL's most storied franchise and its bygone MLB neighbor. After 96 seasons without a mascot, the Habs handed Youppi! a hockey sweater and introduced him as an official team representative at a news conference on Sept. 16, 2005.

A month later, Youppi! performed on skates for the first time as part of a pregame ceremony, and former Expos stars Gary Carter and Andre Dawson raised a banner honoring the departed baseball team at Bell Centre. The banner identifies the four players whose jerseys were retired by the club -- Carter, Dawson, Tim Raines and Rusty Staub. Fans who attended the game received a glossy program tracing the history of the Expos.

More than a decade later, the Expos' banner still hangs from the rafters, right along with the ones commemorating the Canadiens' 24 Stanley Cup championships and 18 retired jerseys.

Youppi!'s baseball days ended when the Expos left Montreal after the 2004 season and became the Washington Nationals. Andy Lyons/Getty Images

There is perhaps no one better to speak about the links between Les Canadiens and Les Expos than Trzcienski. He was in Olympic Stadium as a third-grader when Montreal lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the decisive Game 5 of the 1981 National League Championship Series, a game known as Blue Monday. It was the only postseason appearance in Expos history. In more recent years, he helped lead and coordinate several Expos promotions for the Canadiens.

"As a baseball fan," Trzcienski said, "I kind of lived the dream and got to work in that business and work for the club that I grew up following and idolizing. ... One of my childhood memories, for better or worse, was being there to see the Expos' dream of getting to the World Series crushed."

Another significant moment connecting the franchises came before the Canadiens' game against the visiting New Jersey Devils on Feb. 19, 2012. Three days after the death of Carter, the first player to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame representing the Expos, the Canadiens memorialized the star catcher.

During pregame warmups, each Canadiens player wore a No. 8 Carter sweater. Then a video montage commemorating Carter's tenure with the Expos was shown on the overhead scoreboard as the Eagles' "New Kid in Town" -- a nod to Carter's "Kid" nickname -- played in the background.

Following a decade with the Expos, Carter joined the Mets and helped them win a World Series. But he wore Expos' colors to the MLB All-Star Game seven times and returned to Montreal for the 1992 season to close out his career.

"In the lean years, Youppi! was basically the most popular Expo. There were some instances where you saw Youppi! on the pocket schedule or the media guide, as opposed to some of the players." Jon Trzcienski, Canadiens executive director of marketing and former Expos employee

"Montreal has always associated Gary to the Expos," Trzcienski said. "Certainly the fact that he went into the Hall of Fame with an Expos cap, that's something that will always be so meaningful to the people here."

After a moment of silence for Carter, cameras focused on Youppi! in front of the Canadiens' bench as he acknowledged a roar from the crowd on behalf of Carter. One of the No. 8 sweaters worn during warmups was sent to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The others were auctioned off, with proceeds going to Carter's charitable foundation. The occasion evoked a gesture made by the Expos during the 2000 MLB season, when they wore No. 9 patches on their uniforms after the death of legendary Canadiens winger Maurice Richard.

Baseball writer and analyst Jonah Keri, a Montreal native, points out that one of the streets adjacent to Jarry Park, the Expos' first home stadium, now bears the name Rue Gary-Carter. It speaks to the influence of Carter, a player who took time to sign autographs and visit hospitals and make personal connections. Carter enjoyed tremendous popularity in Montreal, which is rare for someone who only speaks English.

"Don't underestimate how significant that is," Keri said. "From a fan's standpoint, we loved Carter. Beyond being a great player, he was beloved in Montreal."

After the 2012 death of Gary Carter, the Expos' first Hall of Famer, Canadiens players warmed up in jerseys bearing the late catcher's name and No. 8. Eric Bolte/USA TODAY Sports

In recent years, star outfielder Vladimir Guerrero and other former Expos have appeared at Canadiens games. Back on the diamond, the Toronto Blue Jays have staged a pair of well-attended preseason games in Montreal each of the past three years. April's two games against the Boston Red Sox drew a total of 106,102 fans.

Keri, the author of "Up, Up, and Away: The Kid, the Hawk, Rock, Vladi, Pedro, le Grand Orange, Youppi!, the Crazy Business of Baseball, and the Ill-fated but Unforgettable Montreal Expos," admits he has become somewhat of a de facto spokesman for the Expos, a status that evokes in him a mix of pride and embarrassment.

"I've become sort of a mascot for the team," Keri said with a laugh. "It's totally preposterous. It's a trippy thing to me that I'm viewed as an authority on the team. But it's fun, and I try to be the best ambassador that I can."

Meantime, Trzcienski hopes the exhibition successes provide fuel to MLB's rumored interest in returning a franchise to Montreal.

"There are several of us in the [Canadiens] organization with roots right back to the Expos," Trzcienski said. "A lot of us are still hoping that a baseball team is on its way back in the not-too-distant future, and efforts here in Montreal seem to be gathering steam season over season."