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Getting to Grey Cup puts expansion Ottawa Redblacks in rare company

The Ottawa Redblacks are in pretty elite company when it comes to a few things.

Obviously, they're among the few teams in sports to be named after a multi-hued colour scheme. And then there's the lumberjack sawing logs on the sidelines during games (MLS Portland's Timber Joey predates them with that tradition, but hey, they're borrowing from one of the best rituals in sports there).

But as they head into Sunday's Grey Cup game, they've already established themselves as one of the most successful expansion teams in sports history. In only their second season of existence, the Redblacks are vying for a championship.

As incredible as that may seem, especially when you take into account their 2-16 record last season, they're not the fastest when it comes to expansion teams reaching a final -- or even winning a championship.

Of course, that depends on how you define an expansion team and the route taken to arrive at the big game.

Take the 1967-68 St. Louis Blues, for example. They reached the Stanley Cup final in their first season. But they had an  advantage: an expansion team was guaranteed a berth in the final thanks to the NHL's divisional setup. So, there's a bit of an asterisk there.

As for the most successful, there's no denying the Baltimore CFL team known as the "CFLs" (worst name ever) and then the Stallions. A product of the CFL's ill-fated U.S. expansion, the team played its first game in 1994 and reached the Grey Cup game later that season, getting there by knocking off established Canadian-based teams in the playoffs.

They won it in their second season before landing on the sports trash heap and re-emerging in Montreal. But everything about that CFL expansion requires an asterisk.

Keeping all that in mind, here's a list of the expansion teams that found success quickly:

BALTIMORE CFLS/STALLIONS

Baltimore had a big advantage over their Canadian opposition in their first year: they didn't have to adhere to the CFL's Canadian-American ratio. Still, by employing a lot of CFL veterans (Americans all), they  outdistanced the rest of their American counterparts before the team known as the CFLs lost to the B.C. Lions on a controversial call in the 1994 Grey Cup. They made up for that, winning it all in their second season when they were known as the Stallions, beating the Calgary Stampeders.

ST. LOUIS BLUES

The Blues, like all of the NHL expansion teams in 1967-68, were a collection of aging castoffs and young minor leaguers. They finished their inaugural season with a losing record, but got hot in the playoffs and knocked off two other expansion teams to make it to the Stanley Cup final against the Montreal Canadiens. It didn't go well (a four-game sweep), though it was the first of three straight appearances in the final. Sadly, they've never been back.

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS

The Chiefs joined the NFL in 1966 following a merger with the American Football League. They made it to the first Super Bowl later that season, though the old AFL teams had been guaranteed a spot in the big game. The Chiefs lost that one to Green Bay, but won it all in 1970 by beating the heavily favoured Minnesota Vikings (who had CFL alumnus and future YouTube star Joe Kapp at quarterback). But were they really an expansion team? They had won the AFL championship the year  before and pretty much fielded the same team in their NFL debut. Whatever the answer, they've never been back.

NEW YORK JETS

Like the Chiefs, the Jets became NFL members in 1966 and although they took a little longer to get to the Super Bowl, they became the first AFL team to win it by upsetting the Baltimore Colts in 1969. But like the Chiefs, their expansion bona fides are suspect.

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS

The D-Backs were a typically hopeless Major League Baseball expansion team when they joined the National League in 1998. But thanks to wise free-agent signings and a productive farm system, they not only made the World Series four years later (2001), but won it.

EDMONTON OILERS

The Oilers found instant success when they joined the NHL in 1979, making it to the final in 1982-83 and winning their first Stanley Cup in 1983-84. But were they really an expansion team? They basically arrived in the NHL fully formed after coming over from the World Hockey Association.

FLORIDA MARLINS

When the Marlins joined MLB in 1993, they were awful. Five years later, they secured a wild-card berth and improbably won the World Series with an upset victory over the Cleveland Indians. Okay, it was Cleveland, but still ...

REAL SALT LAKE

Like most expansion teams, this MLS team was awful. After joing the MLS in 2005, the team struggled badly and at one point lost 18 straight games. But things started to turn around in their third season and hit the heights in 2009 with a championship win over the L.A. Galaxy.

MONTREAL ALOUETTES

After a 10-year absence from the CFL, the Alouettes were reborn in 1996 after the Baltimore Stallions franchise moved north. They made their first Grey Cup game five years later and won their first title two years after that. Whether or not they were expansion team is up for debate. Although all of the Stallions players were released before the team headed north, many were re-signed as Alouettes. But there was that tricky ratio thing to deal with, so more than half the team was brand new.

MIAMI DOLPHINS

The Dolphins brought NFL football to Florida in 1966 and did what most expansion teams do for the first few years -- stank. But in their sixth season of existence, they made it to their first Super Bowl and won their first the next year with a perfect season.

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS

Like the Blues, the Flyers joined the NHL for the 1967-68 season as part of the league's first expansion. They struggled early on, but after some productive drafts  and the adoption of a punch-first, ask-questions-later attitude, they became the first expansion team to win the Stanley Cup, doing it in their seventh year. Then they won it again a year after that.

NEW YORK METS

They were simply one of the worst, and most celebrated, baseball teams ever when they entered the National League in 1962 -- losing 120 games their first year with the likes of Marvelous Marv Throneberry (he wasn't) and Hot Rod Kanehl (he wasn't, either). Eight years later, the Miracle Mets caught the world's attention by winning the World Series.