The Toronto Blue Jays have finally found a solution in their search for home stadiums for the 2020 season. The Blue Jays announced Friday that the club will play their 2020 home games at Sahlen Field, their Triple-A affiliated stadium in Buffalo, New York. .
After the Blue Jays were denied approval to play at their home baseball stadium, Rogers Center, in Toronto, due to concerns about teams crossing the border amid the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19 ), they explored other options like splitting games with the Orioles and Pirates. , at Camden Yards and PNC Park, respectively. The other option the Blue Jays explored was to play their home games at the club’s spring training facility in Dunedin, Florida. But with the current increase in COVID-19 in Florida, the spring training site was scrapped.
The Blue Jays will begin their 2020 season on Friday at Tropicana Field to face the Tampa Bay Rays. Toronto’s first “home” series is scheduled for Wednesday, July 29 and Thursday, July 30, but the club will play the couple of games at Nationals Park against the Washington Nationals. According to Kaitlyn McGrath of The Athletic, the club will plan to play its first home game at Sahlen Field on July 31 against the Phillies or on August 11 against the Marlins. It is unclear how long the updates will take for the Buffalo ballpark.
In the league’s new geographic timeline for this season, teams will not venture outside of their “regions” in an effort to contain additional exposure to COVID-19. With the Blue Jays playing their 2020 home games in Buffalo, it will work quite well with regard to traveling for their National League East and East Division opponents.
Buffalo was one of the original options when the Blue Jays encountered problems playing at the Rogers Center, but the players expressed interest in wanting to play in a major league stadium. Sahlen Field will require a reconfiguration of the clubhouse, training facilities, and lights of the ballpark, in order for the stadium to be on par with an MLB stadium. Some other concerns that would need to be addressed: location of the bullpen in playable foul territory, as well as making sure there is enough room for social distance between players and coaches. But, the Blue Jays organization believes this is an easier option than continuing to wait for government approval to share an MLB stadium.
Sahlen Field is located in downtown Buffalo, with dimensions of 325 feet to left field, 404 feet to center field and 325 feet to right field. The home run fence is 12 feet high in left field and eight feet high in left and right center field. The stadium was designed by HOK Architects (Kansas City), the group that also built the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
Buffalo Bisons canceled its minor league season on July 1 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The MLB 2020 season will consist of 60 games, and will conclude with an expanded 16-team postseason.
