The Blue Jays have spent the first month-plus of the 2021 season playing their home games at their Spring Training facility in Dunedin, Fla., but the team announced Wednesday that beginning June 1, they’ll move their home games to Buffalo’s Sahlen Field — the home of their Triple-A affiliate and the site of last summer’s home games. Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi reported on the move back to Buffalo shortly before the Jays made the formal announcement.
Per the announcement, the Blue Jays are in the process of a renovation project at Sahlen Field in order to prepare the facility for compliance with health-and-safety protocols associated with the return of fans. There are also updates being made to the field of play itself and the facilities, which include moving the bullpens off the field and behind the outfield walls, installing new batting cages beyond the right field wall, re-sodding the outfield grass, a new weight room, updated clubhouse facilities and updates to the stadium lighting. While those renovations are ongoing, they’re expected to be completed prior to June 1. The Bisons, meanwhile, are playing their home games out of Trenton, N.J. to accommodate the Blue Jays’ relocation and the ongoing renovations, Davidi points out.
The move to Sahlen Field is indefinite, as a return to Toronto is dependent on government regulations and recommendations of medical experts in Canada. For the time being, the Jays extended thanks the city of Buffalo and to Bisons ownership, expressing excitement over the ability to return to the site of their “strong 2020 campaign, this time with in-person cheers from Buffalo-area fans.”
The Jays will open Sahlen Field at 24 percent capacity and begin selling tickets the morning of May 13. You can see their full press release here (courtesy of MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, on Twitter).
Why don’t they just officially move to Buffalo and be done with it? In the post 9/11 and post Covid world having a league operate in two different countries is a logistical nightmare. Toronto is a great city, I loved my visit there, but it just seems to be more trouble than it is worth right now.
The Blue Jays fanbase is massive (and potentially spans an entire country). The team is in one of the biggest markets of any MLB team. I’d expect the owners of the team to be very reluctant to leave.
Yes, let’s trade one of the top MLB markets for a state that houses 2 of the worst. Even Dave Stewart wouldn’t make that trade.
Um, Manfred is a billion times dumber than Dave Stewart, of course he is trying to make this to happen.
I love Dave Smoke Stewart, he is crazy but he is the man
Do not appreciate the Dave Stewart slander
You’re right. It was a failed attempt at hyperbole. He would make that trade.
Good pitcher, crap GM. Thanks for Dansby and Toukie though, hope those magic beans are doing well.
Loved those late 80s Athletics teams.
Dave stewart was an awesome pitcher. Especially for Oakland and Toronto !!
LOL. The only MLB team in the last half century to fold was in the “massive Canadian market’. All the full season minor league teams also folded. Canada is not much of a baseball market at all. A market means demand, and you can tell by the perpetually empty boxes at the Toronto ballpark how little demand there is for baseball.
The team would do well in NC. I’m sure the Nats and Braves would yell and scream though. Also the players would be much happier.
Just because the Rogers centre doesn’t sell out every day doesn’t mean it’s a small market. Your forgetting tv ratings. Viewership of an entire country not just the city of Toronto. Every province has blue jay fans.
There is NO way that MLB is going to move out of one of the largest media markets in North America. None.
What the heck does 9/11 have to do with this? That was 20 years ago and MLB has functioned just fine since.
If anything, we’ve seen that national borders are no longer relevant with a global economy. What they ought to do is add a whole division in the Caribbean and Mexico. Well, when we finally make some progress against the pandemic, anyway.
At 1 time was in favor of a franchise in mexico, but the government itself isn’t even in charge of that nearly failed state. Who exactly would want to play for a team, just guessing would be based in mexico city, with thoughts in back of mind of being kidnapped (or worse) daily?
league couldn’t force players to go into that kind of atmosphere and doubt any sane player would take their families even if they did try.
Hence the phrase POST 9/11 world. Yes the incident was 20 years ago, but the travel ramifications are still evident today. Before 9/11, you didn’t even need a passport to travel to Canada. Now you do. So my comment has nothing to do with 9/11 at all, just the changes in the world since that incident happened.
when has passports actually been an issue?
Never with MLB that I am aware of. Although I do remember it was an issue for WWE wrestling because one of the wrestlers had a no-violent drug conviction and was unable to cross the border for shows in Canada. It’s unlikely to ever be a problem, but it is possible that it could be.
I think the NBA made a huge mistake when they moved Seattle to OKC after Oklahoma housed the New Orleans team after Hurricane Katrina. They made the Finals but they had to quickly break up a great young team because they couldn’t afford them. If Toronto moves to Buffalo, their young talent is going to be for sale in a year or two, and they will linger in Buffalo while the Rays move up north and buy all of the players back.
Buffalo Blue Jays does have a ring to it.
Buffalo Wings is better.
Buffalo Wild WIngs field.
Hiflew, that’s a terrible idea. Total nonsense.
Thank you for your well thought out rebuttal. I guess it would have been too difficult for you to actually refute my points with logical evidence, so just mindlessly calling it bad works for you. Keep up the lazy work.
The Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals are still fighting in court over territory rights. Adding a third team in New York would be a legal headache for decades.
I appreciate your support, hiflew, but your idea is so ridiculous it requires no logical rebuttal. I know, it’s easy to be critical, but a bad idea is a bad idea. You really think MLB should give up on the Jays? Completely absurd.
You have a right to your opinion, no matter how unsupported it is. I don’t believe we have anything ;left to say to one another. Enjoy your life and have a nice day.
Buffalo is no where near New York City. Not a territorial issue. That’s like saying the SF Giants and SD Padres are in the same territory. Ridiculous.
The biggest issue is Buffalo is a small market. Buffalo ain’t getting a permanent team.
This seems like throwing an idea out there for the sake of throwing an idea out there. There’s at least 10 teams who would make more sense to move than Toronto, the only reason that number wouldn’t be 20-25 is because the stadium is old and blah.
There is no team that has the travel and legal logistics as Toronto. Players require a passport to go play a weekend series at Rogers Center. Laws that govern the 29 other teams might not apply to the 30th. And vice versa.
My argument is not that Toronto doesn’t deserve a team or that the city cannot support a team. My argument is that the legal hoops required to house a team there are not worth it anymore.
But if we go by your logic, that means the only players playing in the MLB would be American, since any foreign player would need a visa and require additional logistics to join a team. It’s really not a big deal at all which will not be a problem for decades, if ever again. The idea that the MLB would pull out its biggest markets is just farfetched.
They haven’t played there at all since 2019. And yet, MLB continues to operate. Let’s not pretend that MLB will die if Toronto is removed from the equation. As I said, I think Toronto is a great city and probably doesn’t deserve to lose its team in a vacuum. But we are living in a different world now.
As far as the foreign players go, you are correct that it already requires additional logistics. But if you take the travel over a border (for some team 3-4 times a year, for the Jays possibly 30-40 times a year) out of the equation, there is a lot less red tape to deal with.
Have you ever crossed the border or travelled anywhere for that matter? It is not that big of deal. MLB players crossing the border or or a tiny fraction of the people going back and forth daily. What you suggest would also infer that the US should totally close itself off to foreign travel, trade and then deal with the resulting lower standard of living .
We’re living in a different which is now slowly normalizing. Crossing the border for these guys on a private jet is as easy as officials scanning an ID card/passport and providing rapid test results de-boarding. They go on their way from the tarmac. Toronto is one of the biggest N.A. markets and the idea to move away is simply wacky. GL convincing top free agents to live in/around Buffalo.
Has little to do with being American. Every player has to go through Customs twice to play in Canada. First time through Canadian Customs second time through US. Applies equally to players from the Dominican and Venezuela.
Customs in Canada is a huge hassle for anyone. You have to declare the most minor items because they want the tax pennies for everything a player buys. If an American player is playing for the Blue Jays and goes on an away series. when he gets back it’s a huge hassle if he bought a pair of pants. In the US, CBP doesnt care about minor things. In Canada they scrape you for every tax cent they can.
You realize that sports teams don’t go through the same customs as civilians, right? The team fills out the paperwork ahead of time. If they even have to physically see a customs agent, and many charters don’t, things are much more expedited. Every now and then there’s an issue, but that’s very rare.
Worst take ever
You are welcome to disagree with my idea. By all means, make an argument and change my mind with evidence to the contrary. But you are very ill-informed if you think that is anywhere close to the worst take ever.
What legal logistics ,as you say ,are different then they would be for NHL teams in Canada? Move the Leafs and Canadians to save the headache while were at it? As for travel you should check out the miles a AL West team has to cover over a season, Toronto is pretty close to a hell of a lot more teams than Seattle or Texas. Have you ever flown a private jet charter across the border, I haven’t. I do imagine it adds 10 minutes tops to the travel. So many comments that are just trying to say get my game out of Canada. I know you keep saying Toronto is great, I’ve never been outside the airport so I can’t comment on that.
Nashville Jays would be more appropriate. Buffalo would need to line up behind a few other cities.
Fair point. My only point is that the team should be in the US simply for border crossing issues. I just figured Buffalo would be close enough that Toronto fans could still watch their team if they so chose.
I get it. I don’t agree with it but I get it. That would mean pulling Vancouver out also and any other Canadian city holding a minor league affiliate.
Rappers used to have problems crossing the borders due to priors. Heard funny border stories except that many lost $$$ because of cancelled Canadian shows.
Saw a cop manhandle a 12-year old on a bike thanks to the lockdown restrictions. Just another day. Canada clearly has their priorities in-check and aren’t ready for MLB anytime soon.
I don’t think the minor league change would be that big a deal now. There are lots of cities that lost their minor league team that could easily take a spot back. Especially in the Pacific Northwest area since the entire Pioneer League was basically folded.
Canada has voter id laws. All it would take is for someone like keith olberman to jump on twitter and fire up the cancel crowd again and you could get your wish.
Does Keith carry a reputation as a powerful and influential person?
The Canadian government is full of leftist pantywaists who enjoy the control over their citizenry. There is no medical or scientific reason that MLB can’t play in Toronto. MLB should call the Canadian politicians out on this, but then it is full of leftist pantywaists too. See All Star Game, Atlanta.
Maybe Canada is happy with their far lower death rate than the US and doesn’t want a bunch of unnecessary (yes, baseball is unnecessary) travel bringing who knows what kind of strains in from various US states that have decided to open like the pandemic is magically over.
We do have scientists that track the various strains you know. The pandemic will never be over because petty tyrannical politicians will continue to use this to control people. See Bidens changing stance on mask requirements and his moving the goalposts from July 4 to Labor Day. FOLLOW THE SCIENCE, even it upsets your agenda.
It’s almost like things change, we learn, and we adapt. 500,000 Americans are dead and you’re upset that wearing a mask, which my 5 year old does every day without complaint, is tyranny.
Follow the science? Um, ok.
HAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Most of them are over the age of 70
Canada loves the pandemic.. They love being able to argue for more restrictions on personal freedom. They love being able to feel morally superior about wearing masks. In Canada they are going to get their masks tatooed on their face.
The Canadian government loves to close the border so Canadians can’t get out. It’s like Cuba.
Yo, the United States did well killing off its population the past year. Guess we’re leftist for wanting our people to survive lol
The original predictions were 2.2 million deaths in the first year from Neil Ferguson and other at University College London. We had about a quarter of that, so the USA actually did better than predicted in protecting its citizens from the Corona Virus. Do you somehow think playing baseball in Toronto is going to kill Canadians? Seriously.
You do realize the original projections were based on no mitigation measures right? Love how some fudge the truth/facts to fit their narrative.
That projection was the absolute worst case if NOTHING changed in our behavior. That we’ve seen fewer deaths suggests that what we did worked somewhat. It doesn’t mean everything was done right. Good grief.
Ted Williams would have hit 500 home runs a year if the pitchers would have just thrown fastballs right down the middle.
All I know is the companies making masks got rich. It’s been reported that Biden has stock holdings in 5 major mask companies
no, it means that we were effective in preventing the deaths of about 1.7 million Americans That is success, no matter how you spin it.
thank you for proving my point, the mitigation procedures WE PUT IN PLACE -, OWS, lock down, etc. saved about 1.7 million lives. In spite of Governor Cuomo.
If my aunt had a p*nis she would be my uncle. What’s your point?
Oic2021, Joe Biden doesn’t and never has owned any stocks or bonds. He has gone on record of this and it has never been disproven. Who is your source, the Mypillow guy or the drunk Dominion woman? For people who cry “fake news” all the time, your side constantly spits out outright lies.
Remember, anytime anyone asks you to take simple measures to lessen the risk of people dying, that’s them taking away your freedom.
you ask the people of each of the ~200 countries in the world how well their country has done with the pandemic and I’d guarantee you’ll find at least a solid amount in each country that think a bad job was done. no one did a good job. lets stop acting like poor management was a distinctly American problem.
LOL Then stay in your houses in your country with the border closed and keep your masks on and stay safe! In the meantime, the baseball club can be returned to the US where it belongs while you are all safe behind your closed borders and your closed economy.
And you can keep begging for vaccines for us too and we’ll continue to send them.
My Canadian friends STILL ask me to explain rules of baseball. If there isn’t a puck, nothing matters.
That must cover the 38mil Canadians then, case closed,
Massive merchandising opportunity if they change their name to the Buffalo Blue Jays just for this season. I’m a Boston fan and I might buy one of those jerseys!
Remember the Canadians are subjects not citizens
You’re such a tool. I lived in Toronto for a year and enjoyed my experience. I Bet you’ve never been to Canada.
He is technically correct as we have a Queen as a head of state. We are subjects to the Queen of Canada. However, we are still Canadian citizens.
thank you for proving my point, the mitigation procedures WE PUT IN PLACE -, OWS, lock down, etc. saved about 1.7 million lives. In spite of Governor Cuomo.
I was planning on visiting soon, but man the police state up there is getting out of control. Government over reach and corruption skyrocketing in one of the nicest countries on earth.
Lmao
Most accurate post in here.
Yankees will now be the 3rd best team in NY lol.
Cause the Mets are so good right now
I’m sorry we didn’t get to play Detroit like 6 times lol
Mets played the Marlins. They played the Rockies. Every team plays last place teams.
No. Cause the yankees are bad. Get with the program. Jk, let there by 162, then decide.
And the Mets are 4th behind the Yankees, Bisons and Bills
So they’re better than the Giants, Jets, Knicks, Nets, Rangers, Devils, Islanders, etc. Not that it’s much of an accomplishment, sadly.
mmmmmm…someone isn’t very good at math, @mestfan22 (meaning: you!).
Yanks (10-3 in their last 13 – one’ve the hottest teams in MLB) moved ahead of the Jay’s last night. While the mets continue to wallow below .500. What a mess that club is lol. Firing your hitting coach at the 25 game mark?
Panic city!
Looking at how things stand (again using very basic math skills) it is: Yanks. Blue Jays. mets.
Which seems about right, uh?
I hope you find this information helpful, bro.
@MetsFan22- yeah, if Lindor ever hits? The Jays are too good for Dunedin, so they have to go back to Buffalo. A 3rd team isn’t needed in New York. The Jays should just stay in Dunedin.
I grew up in Buffalo. It consists mostly of Yankees fans and bandwagon Red Sox fans who started watching baseball in 2004.
Anyway, it’s great to hear that the Jays will be back in June. It will take people’s minds off of the atrocious Sabres season that is mercifully ending shortly.
I have to give credit to Shapiro for getting the team through all the covid challenges. What really needs to happen in Canada is a new Prime Minister, one that isn’t such a Marxist dictator and the Jays could be playing back in T.O.
You mean like the 2 conservative PMs who are the cause of Canada not having its own vaccine production ? Brilliant as always.
We do produce vaccines. Trudeau just ignored them and teamed up with China. Also, Trudeau was in power for 4 years before the pandemic, if he wanted to change our domestic vaccine production he had plenty of time to do it. But unfortunately he is an idiot.
When people elect an idiot, it means they’re idiots.
2016-2020. USA. Idiot-in-chief. I rest my case.
No we do not have a facility capable of producing Covid vaccine. That went out the door during the Mulroney era and after Sars , Harper ignored recommendations that there be a university based facility. Go read up on the history of vaccine production in Canada. If you seriously think O’toole could have done a better job with this you are dreaming.
As for Trudeau teaming up with the Chinese , that was a mistake but the US under Trump was not trustworthy after he tried to block 3m from sending Canada PPE. Thus the reason we are buying vaccine from Pfizer’s factory in Belgium vs across the border in Michigan.
yes, several millions of people are idiots. what a great way to extend the olive branch.
Yes. Yes a million times yes we would be better off with O’Toole. We would have been better off with almost anyone else in charge. Trudeau is a liar. Ethically challenged. Corrupt. Inept. He has so many scandals surrounding him it borders on the ridiculous. He screwed up vaccine acquisition. He lied about it. He allowed rampant sexual harrassment in the military. Lied about it. Bullied 3 female MPs until they quit. Lied about it. The list goes on. He is terrible.
Its true though. People who voted for this man after knowing about him assaulting a woman and wearing blackface so many times he can’t remember, are idiots.
Ellis, O’Toole is a weak buffoon. Everything else you said is accurate.
2020-? (removed for incompetence prior to 2024)
Worthless moron who can’t even read from a teleprompter.
Anytime I can hijack a baseball website with my political takes, I do it, because it shows how well versed I am in that subject. This is a normal mindset.
And is this the thread where we can introduce divisive religious topics too?
With Canada wanting a vax passport isn’t it going to be hard for MLB who aren’t vaccinated to play away games in Toronto?
Why wouldn’t MLB require everyone to get vaccinated? Are they that stupid?
Um, yes, sadly.
because maybe they dont believe they should be demanding it? a large portion of the population ha already gotten it already even with most businesses not requiring passports/requiring employees to get vaccinated. simply not demanding something of someone is not stupidity.
Eat your vegetables or no dessert.
Waaah, you’re taking away my freedom!
Waaah.
Waaah.
wow, that’s funny, I never said anything about that. I cant comment on the success of vaccinations without most having been required to get it? I never said you shouldnt or cant require it, just that it may not be nessicary.
Politician = a person who convinces the voters that everything that is wrong is someone else’s fault so they can win and then make things even worse.
I was hopeful they would be able to get back to Toronto by July for home games but that is looking less and less likely with vaccinations taking longer than expected here. Unfortunate, but the new Renos look decent in Buffalo. Hopefully if they make the playoffs they can have a game here.
Can’t wait to watch baseball in person again, so jealous every time I see the US stands with people
If Toronto doesn’t want the Blue Jays then maybe the Blue Jays should find a government that actually wants them. I’m sure there are many.
Toronto Bison. Buffalo Blue Jays. A name change is in order!
just great how every one of these articles turns into international mudslinging. good grief people.
Anybody that thinks the Jays are moving, or should move from Toronto, does not know what they are talking about. They Jays are owned by a massive communications company that use the Jays as content for their TV, internet, entertainment packages. Money is not an issue.
They have a rabid fanbase of 38 million people that extends across the country. They consistently get great ratings. Check out what happens when the Jays go to Seattle, western Canadians take over the stadium, and its like a home game for the Jays. Many fans go to Minni too.
Dealing with passports is not an impediment. Everyone else in the world seems to be able to figure them our, and teams have many support people to take care of that, plus players have agents.
The team is willing to spend money. They just build one of the nicest training facilities in Dunedin, and have done renovations two years in a row to Buffalo, that will result in an excellent AAA facility.
In short, the Jays will not be leaving Toronto, no matter how ignorant you are.
All true. That massive conglomerate needs to build a better/great stadium for the Jays to play in.
yeah I think the sticking point of the border is clearly the issue here and as much as I have some reservations about how Canada handles the situation I applaud them for not throwing away what they believe to be right simply to facilitate sports. It sucks for the Jays but they know why this is happening and know to understand and accept this.
As soon as the Blue Jays are allowed to go back to Toronto, just move the Rays to Buffalo.
Problem solved, everyone’s happy.
It’s kinda laughable that the Blue Jays can’t play in Toronto.
They should definitely rock a Buffalo jersey this year, that’d be cool
Buffalo wore Trenton jerseys yesterday, which was neat.
And this is why comments used to be closed
There’s no telling how many lives have been saved by having them in Dunedin.