“People ask me what I do in the winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” – Rogers Hornsby
Hornsby, the Hall of Fame infielder, might be stunned if he could see the changes to the game from which he retired in 1937, but his yearning for the game is something every baseball fan can relate to.
Major League Baseball’s season started in April, but on Tuesday it arrives in Buffalo, when the Toronto Blue Jays start their summer series of home games in Sahlen Field. The parent club of the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons – who decamped to Trenton, N.J., for the summer – will host the Miami Marlins at the corner of Washington and Swan streets. Tickets are sold out.
The Jays cannot return to Toronto and Rogers Centre due to Covid-19 restrictions. They have committed to 18 games in Buffalo, but it’s likely they could play all 59 remaining home games here.
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The Blue Jays, of course, played home games here last summer also, but without fans in the stands. Thanks to the arrival of Covid vaccines, spectators are back.
The crack of wooden bats, roars from the crowd, the calls of vendors and all the other sounds of baseball will be welcome tonic to our Covid-dulled senses.
Fans of the New York Yankees, Mets or Boston Red Sox can absolve themselves of guilt if they have a summer rooting fling with the Blue Jays and their young stars, such as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. or Bo Bichette.
As of Friday, Guerrero led the major leagues in power hitting, with an OPS of 1.104. (OPS is the sum of on-base percentage plus slugging percentage.)
Guerrero, Bichette and most of the Blue Jays are familiar to fans of the Bisons from the players’ days in Class AAA ball. Now, the chance to see them in action in the major leagues is a special treat for Western New York, a rare silver lining from the Covid cloud.
“Baseball is like church. Many attend, but few understand.” – Leo Durocher
Baseball is timeless in some ways, but in others it has evolved, like any sport. The advanced physical training regimens of pitchers, for example, has helped them throw with greater velocity than ever before, and with more mastery of the curveball and slider. Strikeouts are up sharply this year, and batting averages have suffered. It is more of a power game, with batters swinging hard at the pitches they are fortunate enough to see.
Corey Kluber of the Yankees threw the sixth major league no-hitter of the year on May 19, the fourth in May alone. The Yankees’ three games in Buffalo, starting June 15, will be a highlight of the summer for spectators who could afford the $200-plus ticket prices.
The pandemic has left many of us starved for live sports. We’ll take a 1-0 pitchers’ duel or a 12-11 slugfest, it doesn’t matter. Any time there is a major league game in town, we’ll be channeling the late Ernie Banks: “It’s a beautiful day for a ballgame. Let’s play two!”
Sahlen Field will have separate sections for vaccinated and nonvaccinated fans. Capacity for the June Yankees series will be 45% of the stadium, or about 7,500. The prices for that series on the resellers’ market are not for the faint of heart.
With its reduced capacity seating and the chance to see major leaguers, every Blue Jays game here is sure to be a sellout. In the words of the great baseball philosopher Yogi Berra, “If the people don’t wanna come out to the ballpark, nobody’s gonna stop ’em.”
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