The Toronto Blue Jays open their season Friday night at Tampa Bay. After three days there, they'll head to Washington. From that point, it remains anybody's guess.
Thursday's focus for the continuing saga of a site for the Jays' home schedule was Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Early returns seemed to give it a Groundhog Day feeling to what the club experienced on Wednesday, when Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf nixed an agreement with the Pittsburgh Pirates to use PNC Park due to coronavirus concerns.
The Blue Jays thus moved to their next option, which is Baltimore. Same path: They reached a deal to share the facility with the Orioles, according to MLB Network's Jon Heyman, but were left in limbo awaiting governmental approval.
Early in the day, Hogan did not give a ringing endorsement to the plan when asked by the Associated Press.
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“We've had some discussions with the Orioles. I don't know the final details of that," Hogan said. "Obviously, we're watching our numbers very carefully everyday. We're concerned about the spikes in other states. I know baseball is also taking a look at it day to day."
The AP in Toronto reported later Thursday that the Jays had conversations with Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont about playing at Dunkin’ Donuts Park in Hartford, a $56 million facility that opened in 2017 and is the home to the Double-A Eastern League Hartford Yard Goats. Lamont reportedly spoke for a half-hour Thursday to Jays president/CEO Mark Shapiro.
Lamont preached Connecticut's low rate of Covid-19 cases and its central location to facilitate travel via bus to the ballparks in New York and Boston.
Meanwhile, the Bisons are making plans for Sahlen Field to serve as the Jays' Alternate Training Site but stand ready to help their parent club with games if they're called. And Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer is pushing Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred to do that.
Schumer, the New York Democrat, made his case in a phone call late Wednesday and a letter Thursday to the baseball boss.
"Since it is Opening Day, there is little time for continued deliberation – now is the time to act – and Buffalo is ready to roll out the red carpet and welcome Major League Baseball to Sahlen Field and Western New York," Schumer said in the letter.
Blue Jays' players and MLB have nixed the idea of Buffalo thus far because of the upgrades needed to make it major-league ready. Schumer doesn't want to hear that point.
“Buffalo is the natural place for the Blue Jays to play the 2020 season – it is near Toronto, Sahlen Field is top notch, and the Buffalo fan base is major league quality," Schumer said. “I told my friend Commissioner Manfred that not only is the city ready to welcome the team with wide-open arms, the partnership between Buffalo and the Blue Jays would be a home run for the city, the team, MLB and the local economy.”
The Baltimore option is far from perfect, as a report from the Athletic said the Orioles made the Jays agree that the home clubhouse would not be used and the team would have to dress in makeshift accommodations constructed elsewhere in the ballpark.
But if the Baltimore plan falls through, the Blue Jays may be out of options to use a major-league park as their home. Remember, this all started Saturday when the Canadian federal government rejected the Jays' application to play at home in Rogers Centre with strict quarantine protocols.
There's not many other places for the Jays to go. Their spring training home in Dunedin, Fla., doesn't appear to be much of a choice because of the Covid-19 numbers in Florida.
If not Buffalo or Dunedin, it appears the only option would be to play the entire season on the road, simply batting as the home team in the park of their opponents for the 30 scheduled home games.
Despite Friday being the first game, time isn't necessarily of the essence here. The first two "home" games are next Wednesday and Thursday in Washington and those can easily be played at Nationals Park, where the Jays will already be for games Monday and Tuesday.
Then comes three home games next weekend against Philadelphia, which can be played at Citizens Bank Park or perhaps even swapped with a scheduled September series there.
The Jays follow the Philly trip with two days off sandwiched around a six-game trip, so they don't have another home game until Aug. 11 against Miami. Ostensibly, that would give them enough time to figure out what they're going to do for the rest of the season.
News Washington Bureau Chief Jerry Zremski contributed to this report.
