BUFFALO – The Toronto Blue Jays settled on Buffalo’s Sahlen Field as their 2020 home Friday, ending a lengthy search for a place to play that included two government rejections and frayed nerves up and down the organization.
A last-ditch attempt to secure a big-league home at Baltimore’s Camden Yards met reluctance from Maryland officials, forcing the shift to their triple-A home.
Sahlen Field will require a series of upgrades, particularly to bring its lighting up to major-league standards and to the clubhouses so they will be COVID-19-compliant, but from an operations perspective, Buffalo is turn-key for the Blue Jays.
While it won’t be ready in time for the scheduled July 29-30 home-opening series against the Washington Nationals – the teams will stay in D.C., site of games July 27-28 – the July 29-Aug. 2 series against the Philadelphia Phillies hasn’t been ruled out if all goes quickly.
More likely is that Sahlen Field is ready for a five-game homestand starting Aug. 11 against the Miami Marlins.
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“We are extremely grateful to have a home in Buffalo this season, thanks to the openness, creativity, and partnership of the Buffalo Bisons, Major League Baseball, and Blue Jays staff, who have worked tirelessly to prepare us for games at Sahlen Field,” Blue Jays president and CEO Mark Shapiro said in a statement. “This process has no doubt tested our team’s resilience, but our players and staff refuse to make excuses – we are determined to take the field on Opening Day today, and for the coming months, with the same intensity and competitiveness that our fans expect.”
The Blue Jays have been scrambling since the federal government rejected their plan to host games at Rogers Centre last Saturday. In the days since, they pieced together a secondary plan with the Pittsburgh Pirates to share PNC Park, but Pennsylvania health officials turned that down, too.
A plan with the Orioles for Camden Yards followed, but Maryland officials are dealing with a rise in COVID-19 cases and were cool to the idea.
Meanwhile, Charles E. Schumer, the New York senator who is the senate minority leader, pushed Major League Baseball to use Buffalo, lobbying commissioner Rob Manfred by phone Wednesday and in a letter Thursday, according to the Buffalo News.
“Since it is Opening Day, there is little time for continued deliberation – now is the time to act – and Buffalo is ready to roll out the red carpet and welcome Major League Baseball to Sahlen Field and Western New York,” Schumer wrote, according to the paper.
The Blue Jays had staff in Buffalo on Thursday working on a plan for activation that awaited the word go. They had been reluctant to use the venue as players openly said they preferred being in a big-league facility, but both the clock and their options had run out.
