Toronto has two obvious options:
Play in Buffalo. It’s their AAA affiliate and so in many ways is a major league facility, but in some it’s not; I have heard the lighting is second rate (you’d think a AAA team would have decent lighting, but whatever.) It would need some effort, but it’s doable.
Play in Dunedin, FL, at the team’s spring training facility. The Dunedin stadium is newly renovated lovely, but it’s also in Florida, which is a COVID-19 disaster zone.
The Buffalo option seems like a really good choice though.
It appears that this is one of the three options most strongly being considered – specifically, sharing PNC Park with the Pirates.
From an article I read (but can’t link to unfortunately), there are three issues with Buffalo:
All of which would require upgrades with no time to do them and no real anticipation of an ROI (except the lights, I guess).
Looks like the offer starts tomorrow. Check your Tuesday deals in the app. You also get a free year subscription to The Athletic.
Thank you!!
Funny you should say that. Just over a century ago, the 1918 season was only 130 games, but it’s viewed as a normal season. It still counts. No one ever said that the Curse of the Bambino dated from 1916.
It appears that the Blue Jays will be playing most of their home games at PNC Park in Pittsburgh; the exception will be a small number of games which are scheduled for the same dates that the Pirates are also scheduled to be playing at home.
https://www.si.com/mlb/2020/07/22/toronto-blue-jays-play-majority-home-games-pnc-park
So what happens if the Blue Jays make the World Series?
Also, it’s remarkable that the two teams had so few conflicting dates. Just one series prior to September 9!
The Canadian government has said they’ll re-evaluate their position in time to allow the Blue Jays to play postseason games at home if that seems like a possibility. (Given that the season is only sixty games long, any team could make it.) If it’s ruled out, I guess they’ll just keep playing at PNC.
There was some talk a couple months back that the Jays might have to settle for playing in Lansing MI (Class A affiliate) but alas, that won’t come to pass. Apparently the stadium is not adequate for major league players.
In other news, Aaron Judge is the career leader in home runs with 3 outs. (I know it’s only an exhibition but still). Phillies manager Joe Girardi wanted one of his pitchers to get more work so he kept them on the field after the third out and pitch to one more batter. The Yankees obliged and Judge hit a rare walk-off mid game home run.
Just got nixed.
The last remaining hurdle was approval from Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, and a little after 3 p.m. Wednesday, he officially rejected the idea, ruling that the Blue Jays would not be allowed to play here because of the coronavirus pandemic.
What a weird decision. I guess they have to play in Buffalo.
It really is.
It’s apparently OK to have the Pirates and the teams they’re playing against fly in and out on a regular basis, but not the Blue Jays. Adding travelers for one team is OK, but not for a second team.
One also presumes the governor hasn’t shut down the airport. Anyone can fly in from places like Florida or Texas.
You have to think this is frustrating for Blue Jays players, who haven’t a clue where to hang their hats.
I agree the Governor has done something silly.
But it’s actually two extra teams: The Blue Jays and whoever’s their opponent du jour.
IOW, allowing the Blue Jays into PIT doubles the local area’s risk from MLB from 2 teams to 4.
For sure that’s still just a drop in the regional bucket of air travelers, long-haul truckers, etc.
Carry on.
Right, but that’s precisely what I was saying.
“Adding travelers for one team is OK, but not for a second team.” The number of travelers for any given team includes both the home team, and the visiting team.
Anyway, as your second-to-last sentence suggests, Pennsylvania’s decision only really makes sense if you assume that MLB teams would constitute a significant proportion of travelers into and out of the Pittsburgh area.
Yeah, seems like a bit of political posturing to the, ‘How DARE they play baseball in the middle of a pandemic’ crowd without alienating Pirates fans.
Yankees @ Nats is on ESPN at 7:07pm EST.
I just got my Directv back after almost 2 weeks. Cut it close.
The Blue Jays are now looking at sharing Camden Yards with the Orioles, pending approval by Maryland authorities.