If you had Baltimore’s Camden Yards on your ‘Where Will The Jays Play Home Games’ bingo card, forget it.
The Jays were closing in on a deal that would have had them play home games in Baltimore but that’s now off the table and the Blue Jays are heading to Buffalo.
The Blue Jays and Buffalo have to work out some stadium issues such as lighting, says @Ken_Rosenthal But according to sources, the Jays are shuffling to Buffalo and the Orioles won’t have a roomie from north of the border in 2020.
— Dan Connolly (@danconnolly2016) July 24, 2020
The sticking point with Baltimore? The Jays weren’t allowed to use the clubhouse facilities, home or away, and would have had to build their own facility the day their season starts (today).
The Orioles have set a list of conditions one of which, The Athletic reports would include the Blue Jays not using the Orioles clubhouse or the visiting clubhouse to dress for games. From the report:
“The home clubhouse, not surprisingly, would be off-limits to the Jays. But according to a source, MLB and the Orioles also would not allow the Jays to use the visiting clubhouse, which would be reserved for the teams that come to play at Camden Yards, whether facing the Orioles or Jays.”
Blue Jays players have indicated publicly however that they would rather play in a major league park than in a minor league one like their Triple-A affiliate’s in Buffalo. So it would seem, even with the inconveniences of potentially sharing Camden Yards, the option would be preferable for Jays players to other potential scenarios.
So fuck that. The Buffalo Blue Jays are now a real thing.
The Blue Jays start the 60 games regular season today in Tampa. After being denied permission to play at the Rogers Center because America is en Fuego right now with COVID19 they were homeless, the Blue Jays NOW have to play their home games in a minor league park in a dirty country. I get it but forcing the Jays to spend the entire 2020 season going from city to city, each one riddled with infection, is a very shitty reality for players and staff.
Maryland had 664 confirmed cases yesterday.
New York? 414.
Ontario? 145. Toronto had 5.
Canadian health officials aren’t worried about the Blue Jays, they are worried some horny opposing players will come to town leaving behind uncontrolled outbreaks setting us back 5 months. Again, I get it but that thinking doesn’t comport with reality.
We still have thousands of Americans crossing the border with essential goods and services every day. THOUSANDS. We Still have flights landing in Toronto from The USA with thousands of Americans on those flights every day. THOUSANDS.
Canadian Government allows captains of industry, hedge fund managers, and oil execs, in and out of the country daily yet somehow The Blue Jays can’t play at home in a controlled environment and it’s a complete joke.
So the Jays will play home games in Buffalo with an eye to allowing the team to play at the Rogers Centre if they make the playoffs and new cases continue to drop and with a revised 16 team playoff format, provided we keep doing our part, we could see Blue Jays games at home by the end of September.
Upside? Buffalo gets something nice and the TV sightlines for Blue Jays home games will be a throwback to the 1930s.
More Upside? Players won’t be angry about playing on real grass every time they take the field.
I fucking HATE the Orioles anyway.
