Blue Jays' plan to play in Pittsburgh suddenly strikes out

According to an overnight report by Sportsnet's Hazel Mae, the Jays were going to set up shop for their home games this summer in Pittsburgh's PNC Park, the home of the Pirates. 

But the Pittsburgh plan fell apart Wednesday afternoon after multiple reports surfaced from ESPN. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and the state's Department of Health announced they were denying permission for the Jays to play the games in its state amid concerns about visiting teams coming from coronavirus hotspots like Tampa, Miami and Atlanta.

"To add travelers to this region for any reason, including for professional sports events, risks residents, visitors and members of both teams," said Dr. Rachel Levine, state health secretary. "We know that this virus does not discriminate, and can even make professional athletes very sick. We are committed to protecting the health and well-being of all Pennsylvanians."

The Blue Jays are said to be studying alternatives, including playing all games this season on the road and simply batting as the home team for half of their 60 contests. Sportsnet said Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore could be another option.

It's unclear if playing games in Buffalo at Sahlen Field is still a possibility, as two sources say the Bisons have not been contacted by the parent club in the wake of the news out of Pittsburgh.

The Bisons, who declined comment on Wednesday, are preparing their park to be Toronto's Alternate Training Site and most work needed to prepare the stadium for MLB games is not taking place. Blue Jays players and management have publicly said they want to play in a major-league park.

"This is an unprecedented and therefore we understand and support Governor Tom Wolf's decision," Pirates president Travis Williams said in a statement. "We are in agreement that the safety and health of those in our region must remain paramount. We are confident that the great people within the Blue Jays organization, working with Major League Baseball, will secure another option very soon."

The longtime home of the Bisons and the breeding ground for Toronto's Triple-A prospects since 2013, Sahlen Field requires many upgrades to bring its amenities to major-league standards. Chief among those are improved lighting for television and a different structure to its clubhouses and workout areas so it meets social distancing guidelines. 

"My understanding from talking to the Bisons was it was all do-able," Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said as the Pittsburgh news broke during his weekly Covid-19 briefing in the Rath Building. "The Blue Jays thought it was all do-able but the players wanted to play in a major-league park. If Pennsylvania won't allow them to want to go to Pittsburgh, they're going to have to look for another home and maybe we're still in line."

The Blue Jays' first home games are July 29-30 against Washington but those are almost certain to stay at Nationals Park with Toronto batting last. After the Blue Jays' bid to stay home in Rogers Centre was rejected Saturday by Canadian federal government officials, Major League Baseball pushed the team to find another big-league park to play in. 

You have no control over what's going on. Just play the game, play to win and keep going," Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said Wednesday prior to his club's final exhibition game, against the Boston Red Sox in Fenway Park. "We'll see where we're going to play. Don't worry about the stuff you can't control. That's what we're mainly saying to all of them. And they've been really good. They really have. they deserve a lot of credit."

Blue Jays officials have been in Buffalo since Sunday planning for the Alternate Training Site. MLB teams can open with 30 players and have as many as 30 others working out and scrimmaging in a nearby site so they can quickly be summoned in case of injuries or virus cases with the major-league club. None of those workouts will be open to the public.

The Buffalo plan for MLB games included the Marriott HarborCenter and the Westin on Delaware Avenue being bought out to house the Blue Jays and the visiting teams. Players on both teams would have been quarantined between the hotels and the ballpark.

"No comingling of baseball players and staff with the general public," Poloncarz said. "And that's why we felt it was safe. We felt it was safe in that regards because we knew there would be no comingling of the general public with the staff or with the players.

"I would not say bring them here if I thought it was unsafe, because of the protocols that were being put in place to ensure that the players would never come in contact with the general public. So you would not see the players partying on Chippewa Street. It just wouldn't have happened. They may have been partying in their hotel room, but they wouldn't be partying on Chippewa Street. So I felt in talking with others it was a safe option and we could handle it here."

Poloncarz said he had far less of an issue with Blue Jays' games here than he's had with many youth teams traveling out of state in recent weeks and then returning to Western New York after games.

"They're putting the public more at risk, because then the people, just the kids go comingle with their friends, the parents go to work," he said. "That's putting the public more at risk than having the Yankees fly in, stay at a hotel, play two games, and then fly back out."