Rare would be the Major League Baseball player who makes it to The Show, as the sport’s grandest stage is known, who ever wants to return to a minor-league stadium.
But with the Blue Jays finally settling on a home at Buffalo’s Sahlen Field on Friday, the team’s young core of star players not far removed from those lesser lights will try to manufacture a unique home-field advantage.
After being turfed from Toronto and the Rogers Centre by the federal government six days earlier and evicted from a possible tenure at PNC Park in Pittsburgh earlier this week by the Pennsylvania legislature, the Jays were finally running out of options.
And with Canada’s only MLB team opening its season Friday night in St. Petersburg, Fla., it was time to settle on a minor-league venue.
“I’ve always thought that one of the greatest things I’ve expressed is wherever you are, it’s your major league,” Jays president Mark Shapiro said on a conference call to announce the details of the home away from home.
“The (team’s) consistent messaging is that we will make any environment an advantage for us. The mentality is that they are going to walk into Buffalo and the day they walk in there it’s going to be a competitive advantage for us, that we are excited to be there and we are resilient and strong.”
While that sounds well and good, it may be a different story once the Jays settle in to the home of their triple-A affiliate Bisons.
Most of the team’s young stars — Vlad Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, Cavan Biggio and Rowdy Tellez — have all played at Sahlen Field in the past two seasons, but the amenities are not what they are like at, say, Yankee Stadium.
But could that turn into an advantage? The hungry young Jays are trying to convince themselves that it just might.
“We’re going to take advantage of this as much as we can,” Biggio told Sportsnet 590. “Having the New York Yankees come to a minor-league ballpark … I know they’re not going to be happy about that.”
To be truthful, neither are the Blue Jays. Buffalo always existed as a fallback for the Jays and, indeed, staff has been on site for a week getting a lay of the land for what work needs to be done.
When what looked like a sure-fire deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates fell apart, Baltimore’s Camden Yards seemed to be the next possibility. Ultimately, that ended with a swing and a miss as well, the terms of which Shapiro was reluctant to discuss.
With time and options running out, the team shuffled back to Buffalo and set off a scramble to get the stadium upgraded as much and as swiftly as possible. Because of the timing, the Jays will give up two and possibly four home dates, remaining in Washington to play the back end of what would have been a “home-and-home” series July 29-30.
The Jays are scheduled to play host to the Phillies for a three-game series starting on July 31. If Sahlen Field isn’t ready, those games will take place in Philadelphia, setting up a Buffalo home opener on Aug. 11, a scenario that would appear to be the likeliest.
In the meantime, attempts will increase to get lighting up to MLB standards, and clubhouse and weight room spacing arranged to meet the league’s return-to-play protocols. Some of the facilities will be built from scratch, others renovated, and all done with the mind of recreating the big-league experience as best as possible.
“It is helpful (for) the players who have come there and have played there and know where they are going,” Shapiro said. “There’s going to be an understanding of navigating their way, not just in the ballpark, but in the city, that is both a positive and a source of comfort for us.”
Of course, the biggest source of comfort may well be that the Jays will finally have a place to unpack their bags and a semblance of a home in what promises to be a crazy 2020 season.
Guerrero, who played parts of the past two seasons with the Bisons, believes the expansive outfield favours pitchers.
“I think it could actually be an advantage for our pitching,” Guerrero said through translator Hector LeBron. “It’s a big field, bigger than the one in Toronto, so I think that’s going to be the difference.”
The field itself has been idle since late last summer and will need some work. And as has been the case in MLB parks across the league, coronavirus accommodations have been made.
It may not be home sweet home, but at least the Jays don’t have to add a 60-game road trip to a season already full of unprecedented inconveniences.
“I’m excited we finally have a place to go play and we’re done with that,” Montoyo said on a Zoom call. “Let’s focus on the Rays. Let’s focus on the schedule. Now we know.”
Amen to that.
