Toronto Blue Jays Still Looking for New Home After Pennsylvania Shoots Down Steel City Plan
The major league baseball season gets underway in earnest on Thursday night with the first regular season games of the shortened 60-game season. Twenty-nine of the 30 teams in major league baseball are at least planning to play the home portion of their schedule in their own home parks.
Then, there are the Toronto Blue Jays, who continue to be vagabonds in search of some place to call home this season. After the Canadian government turned down their request for a waiver in order to play their home games at Rogers Centre, the team began looking at alternative options. The Blue Jays looked like they had hammered out an agreement with the Pirates to play their home games at PNC Park only to see things get derailed on Wednesday afternoon.
It was announced that the state of Pennsylvania has rejected the proposal to have the team play in Pittsburgh, citing the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the state, especially in Allegheny County, where the Pirates play. Dr. Rachel Levine, the Secretary of Health for the state of Pennsylvania, had the following to say in her statement:
"In recent weeks, we have seen a significant increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in southwestern Pennsylvania. To add travelers to this region for any reason, including for professional sports events, risks residents, visitors and members of both teams. We know that this virus does not discriminate and can even make professional athletes very sick. We are committed to protecting the health and well-being of all Pennsylvanians."
As a result, the Blue Jays continue to try and evaluate their potential options in order to get on the diamond sooner rather than later. Their home opener was slated for next Wednesday, July 29, against the defending champion Nationals. With the option of the Steel City off the table, the Blue Jays are looking at alternative solutions in order to have a venue secured by that date.
As it stands, the Blue Jays are still considering other options. They had considered playing at their spring training site in Florida at Dunedin but the fact that the Sunshine State has been ravaged of late by the coronavirus has dulled the shine on playing there. There have been talks of playing in Baltimore at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, sharing the park with the Orioles. It’s unclear if the state of Maryland would be any more receptive than what Pennsylvania was given the state has passed the 80,000 mark for cases Wednesday. In addition, Baltimore is planning on suspending indoor dining at bars and restaurants by the end of the week.
The most viable proposal, logistically, would be to head just over the border and play at Sahlen Field in Buffalo. It’s the home of the Triple-A affiliate of the Blue Jays, so a lot of their younger players are familiar with playing there. There are logistical problems but they are ones that the team has known about and can easily address. Not only would it make life easier, since the taxi squad was going to be centered there to begin with, they would be improving the park to help get their minor league players a chance to play at a park with major league standards being met. While the players are concerned about playing in a major league park, one has to wonder how important that really is at this point. They aren’t going to be spending a ton of time at the park before or after games and there won’t be fans there to try to get autographs. Why are the amenities that important?
A final potential option for the Blue Jays would to play in the venues of their opponents and play half of those contests as the de facto home team, according to Buster Olney. While that isn’t as much of a factor as it would be in other seasons with no fans in attendance, it still means you have no fixed base of sorts to consider as a home park. That’s going to take a toll on the players as it’s even more of a drain on you mentally.
Hopefully, the Blue Jays can find a suitable solution to the problem and get things squared away. We’ll find out in the coming days.
