The Canadian government has denied the Blue Jays’ request to play home games in Toronto in 2020, and Buffalo’s Sahlen Field has emerged as the frontrunner to host the team for the shortened season.
It makes sense, as the club’s Triple-A franchise is just two hours away from Toronto. But the team isn’t keen on playing at a minor-league park.
If they can’t play at the Rogers Centre, the Blue Jays at least want to play at a Major League Baseball-caliber venue, as relayed Sunday by reliever Anthony Bass.
“I had a chance to talk with (Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins) yesterday after I was done pitching, and I just said, ‘Look, we want to play in a major-league ballpark. We feel like that’s the best opportunity for us.’ And he agreed,” Bass said, via Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling. “He said, ‘I listen to you guys loud and clear. And that’s what we’re going to do for you because that’s what the team wants.’
“That was pretty much echoed throughout the clubhouse that we want to be in a major league ballpark, wherever that is. That’s really our focus right now.”
Sahlen Field would require updates to lighting, the replay-review system and broadcast facilities to get up to MLB standards. Bass added that the team is working to secure a major-league facility in the United States before it’s first home game July 29.
“We don’t want to be in a place where it’s a hot spot,” Bass said, via Zwelling. “We want to be where it’s safe. A place where cases are going down or they’re very low.”
The Blue Jays kick off their regular-season schedule Friday against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.
