Feb. 18: The Blue Jays have formally announced that they’ll play at least their first two homestands at TD Ballpark in Dunedin, “with the hopes of a return to play at Rogers Centre as soon as possible.” Those first two homestands at TD Ballpark will host fans in a limited 15 percent capacity, per the announcement.
The Jays’ first homestand is a six-game set hosting the Angels and the Yankees from April 8-14. They’ll next host the Nationals and Braves from April 27-May 2 before heading out on a 10-game road trip.
The earliest target date for a return to the Rogers Centre, then, appears to be May 14, when they host the Phillies at the outset of a 10-game homestand. It’s no guarantee those games will take place in Toronto, of course; the Jays will reevaluate the situation with input from medical experts and governmental bodies before further charting their course.
Feb. 17: The Blue Jays will again play their home games south of the border, according to a report from Shi Davidi and Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca. At least to open the 2021 regular season, the Toronto denizens will make a temporary abode in Dunedin, Florida.
As was the case in the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign, cross-border traffic simply proved too difficult to manage. The plan in this case is to host home games in Florida until at least the middle of May.
Dunedin is certainly familiar, as it houses the team’s Spring Training complex. The club had toyed with the idea of playing there last year but ultimately settled on the Buffalo, New York home of its top minor-league affiliate.
The change in venue isn’t likely to have a major impact on the Blue Jays’ hopes for contention in 2021. Playing in Buffalo suited the Jays just fine last year, as they performed well at home (17-9) and earned a postseason berth.
As someone who lives just outside of dunedin I approve this
Use a big ladder and binoculars
I’m tall and adept at tree climbing
now Florida has 3 teams too many
For all you Bluebird fans that said your team was going to be playing in Buffalo this season this is 4 U!!! LoL
We’ve known for a couple of months that they were going to play in Duneidin. It wasn’t officially announced but it wasn’t a secret.
@smuzqwpdmx- are the Canadian women as good as the bacon?
I’ve only known a few Canadian women (they’re not too common here in California), but I quite liked them. They’re certainly way out of the league of trolls.
LOLMETS. Jays vs Rays will be an easy travel
Lu,
LOL, OMG, ICYMI, and FFS.
…what do the Mets have to do with this?
@Luc 2- starting to think the Jays will be the 3rd best team in Florida? Look at that Marlin starting 5 this season. Let the games begin.
Huh I never said they would be 3rd team. I said the Jays don’t need to cross the country to play the Rays lol. Plus Marlins have good 5
Aaayye going from the Buffalo Blue Jays to the Dunedin Snowbirds. I dig it
Yes, the Jays are not even worthy enough to call Buffalo their home in 2021 so off they go!
“Gone away is the bluebird, here to stay is the new bird…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7orQylPexOI
Extended Spring Training…….
The main reason being the weather.
Main reason is the city and county gave the Jays a boatload or money to vastly improve and renovate their facility there.
Welfare for billionaires
Other reason being the Bisons are playing in Buffalo this year.
Yep. Forgot about the Bisons. Man, these uncertain (yet certain) times make it easy to forget the normalcy of things.
Main reason is AAA Buffalo will be having a season this year.
Except Buffalo is still in consideration for later in the year…so…
MLB and AAA players are the only ones allowed to participate in spring training before the big league season opens on April 1st. The 142-game AAA season begins during the week of April 5th. As the Blue Jays AAA affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons will begin their regular season during the week of April 5th.
Once the MLB and AAA players leave spring camp, AA and A players will report to Arizona and Florida to begin their spring training before their regular seasons commence on May 4th.
@coldbeer- nah we don’t need a 3rd team in NY. I think the 3rd team in Florida benefits them better. The lighting in Buffalo was horrible last season also.
Aragorn
Love it
This is great for the Jays. Their entire facility went thru a massive overhaul and it’s caught up to the quality seen at most of the newer spring training facilities across MLB.
don’t you have to have credibility before losing it?
Geeeez. Blu Jay fans were all excited the moves the team made. Now they won’t be able to watch them in Toronto.
Just about all of us knew they wouldn’t start the season in Toronto. I’m hoping the last two months gets played there,that may be a best case scenario at this point IMO.
65 inch 4K, watching the best offence in the al crush bombs in a minor-league park…..can’t beat going to the game but we’re good.
I live on Vancouver Island so other than Safeco which is not happening this year that’s how I am watching. To be honest I would rather watch them play in Dunedin in an empty stadium than Rogers Centre in an empty stadium.
Attaboy gomer. I am with you. Grass field in the sunshine all the way all day long over the concrete cavern.
I live in California, so I was never going to be able to watch them in Toronto anyway, and probably wasn’t going to make the trip to watch them in Oakland this year anyway. Who cares where they play? Just ready for them to play. Hopefully it’ll prove to be a home field advantage like last year with visiting teams seeming undermotivated by a minor league stadium.
The “Toronto Denizens”. Maybe the should rename the team that until they can actually play in Toronto again.
Some Blue Jays not migrating north this spring!
Aaron, I am thankful Derek Fisher is not migrating north with the Jays.
I think MLB is dropping the ball here. It’s an opportunity to test markets. Why not put them in Nashville or some other city that has been pushing for a team just to see public interest?
thing is, there is great public interest in Canada, but you are right there is no way the Jays will be playing in Canada any time soon.
So great that the Jays led the league in attendance declines in 2018 and again in 2019…
It was bound to happen due to the rebuild. They had the 3rd highest attendance in 2016 so a regression was likely to happen with them trading off players and rebuilding. Tv ratings were still high
Because AAA is playing in most cities.
Agreed. NFL plays in Mexico City and MLB should follow suit. Plus that border ain’t never gonna be closed
There’s a small difference though. There is no American Football in Mexico. But there is baseball already. Also, they had plans to play in London and Mexico City before CoVID.
The mexican economy cant sustain an MLB team. I believe there’s been studies done.
You can’t test public interest with 15% capacity.
We already knew the Jays were not playing in Toronto anytime soon, so this is not a surprise.
Rumor has it, some were hoping to be back in Buffalo. If you thought scoring was up in Buffalo, Dunedin will be just as strong for offense if not better. Expecting some high scores in Blue Jays games, helped by the fact that the lineup can hit the ball.
The A ball team can play on another diamond on the facility, I’m guessing.
I m hoping they will be back up here by august. If not, its not a big deal, can still watch on tv.
We’ll see. I’m with you, I’m good watching on TV.
Too much cold in Buffalo for the Jays I guess…..keep it in the sunshine on a grass field…..once the vaccine gets around the Cdn border will open again and it will be Jays in Toronto again….thankfully without Derek Fisher….
Floridians need to freshen up on their Canadian aye ?
None of the players or coaching staff are Canadian born other than Vlad who barely speaks English. And it’s “eh” not “aye.” If you’re going to joke at least try a little bit.
I wonder if some US teams might not do something similar.
Obviously, the main issue for Toronto is crossing the border.
But, if I’m the Mets or Yankees, for example, and I don’t think I’m going to be able to have fans at the home games to start the season, then wouldn’t it make sense to spend April in Florida and not have to deal with the NY weather?
@jakee77- Nah too many teams playing in Florida this season the Yankees will stay in NY where they BELONG. As far as the Mets who cares about them? They can stay in Florida if they want. NY only needs one true team: The Yankees
ah the US-Canada infighting commences once more
Rack this up as another reason why Canada should not get an expansion team for Montreal.. .
Yes, because they’re better at handling the pandemic than we are, that’s the ticket.
Not really true whyhayzee but sure. We were the beneficiaries of cold weather and minimal travel when this thing started. Helped us immensely.
We had Tr***. You had much more help to begin with
Angels to play their first-ever Grapefruit League game.
But it’s regular season, not Spring Training.
⧭
The Blue Jays should of had to have forfeit all of the games the past few years not playing in precious Canada. Nobody wants them in New York or Florida.
I know you hate the Jays but at least come up with a real argument or talking point. If you were correct they would be banned from Dunedin. They are not.
@WereAllJustGuestsHere- I never said I ever hated the Jays. Truthfully I feel kind of sorry for them. How are they going to ever win with that starting 5? They need to trade for Luis Castillo and sign Jake Odorizzi so they at least have a chance in the AL East in 2021.
That’s better. A legit question rather than the other crap.
My answer: Ryu has to be as good as the last two years and Nate Pearson has to break out in a big way. Even then they aren’t assured a playoff spot. Jays fans need to look at their teams from 2000, 2003 and 2006 as examples of great hitting and little pitching.
Yanking, I agree with you about the BlueJays rotation. Castillo and Odorizzi would give them a solid chance at the playoffs. Right now Shapiro and Atkins are hoping for a Tampa Bay we’ll start whomever model and see if they can get through the first inning.
Dunedin and that general Florida area loves the BlueJays.
Past few years? You mean last year? Yankees should forfeit all their games since the new stadium opened for the “partial view” seats. Also for leaving old Yankee Stadium. Welcome to the curse of not winning a WS again for a Loonnngggg time.
@lasershow45- you seem so salty why? Because you know the Jays aren’t winning the AL East regardless of where their playing? And how do you know the Yankees aren’t winning the World Series this season? You don’t, so relax and enjoy the laser show
Bro you must be young to think that the yankees rotation, who outside of Cole, is just as questionable, if not more so then the Jays. Even hitting wise the Jays are comparable to the Yankees, what planet are you to think that the Jays are worse then the Yankees ignorance is everywhere on this comment section
The world where a very injured Yankees squad had a better record than the Blue Jays last season and the year before that.
I’m most concerned if the Jays have to play in Florida’s heat and humidity all summer. Im very skeptical that the border will open by June.
Agreed. The rain is a factor which means lots of doubleheaders played in the humid summer.
On the other hand, the Jays climatize and the visitors struggle.
I think if the cdn government can get everyone[who travels and wants it] vaccinated, that border will be open immediately following a set vaccination penetration percentage.
Why would you be concerned? A huge amount of players are native to humid environments whether in America, Latin America, or the Caribbean.
There’s a reason that Texas, Tampa and Miami play under a roof and it’s not like their rosters aren’t full of players from warm weather climates.
Regardless, my point is the weather conditions are more favourable mid May-September in TO and when you are a fringe playoff team like the Jays, getting fatigued from 110 degree heat and humidity does not play in their favour.
Should be at TD AMERITRADE Park in Omaha. Much better venue, bigger, designed with the help of ESPN (for CWS) so broadcasting will be better and easier.
Solberg good call.
Living in Tampa this is bad. Rays have bad attendance even when fans are allowed. Jay’s will take away from that including the market: FSN