What's new at Sahlen Field for the Blue Jays

1. Expansion and modification of clubhouses: A new home facility has been built on the third-base side of the service level of the ballpark for the Blue Jays – and will become the Bisons' home whenever the club comes home. The Herd has been on the first-base side since the park opened in 1988.

The home clubhouse includes weight and cardio rooms, a players lounge with nutrition station as well as athletic training, hydrotherapy and recovery rooms. A coaches locker room was built in what was formerly the Bisons' first-base clubhouse. The spaces will be modified for the return of Triple-A baseball, with the coaches' room becoming the new Triple-A visiting clubhouse.

2. Bullpens: The pens were removed from the foul-line areas in left field and right field and a double-deck bullpen complex was built in right-center field to service both teams.

3. Outfield: The entire outfield grass was resodded, the warning track and outfield wall padding was replaced and new foul poles were installed to replace the ones that had been at the park since 1988. (The infield was replaced prior to the Jays' 2020 season here.)

4. Batting cages/pitching mounds: They were removed from the service level of the ballpark and are now housed in a permanent structure in the service parking lot behind right field where the grounds crew building used to be. They feature two large cages with indoor mounds and climate control.

5. Lighting: All light towers were replaced with new LED lights as well as added backs to the stadium's permanent poles. A temporary LED pole for enhanced lighting power has also been added in each corner of the stadium to enhance MLB broadcast and lighting specifications.

6. Dining area: Consumer's Pub at the Ballpark is closed to the public for the season, as it has been converted to a dining area for Blue Jays players and staff.

7. Visiting clubhouse/umpires quarters: Like in 2020, the visiting teams and the men in blue will be housed in temporary structures built in the Exchange Street parking lot in deep right-center. The structures are much sturdier than last year, however, and their occupants will not need to leave the compound and evacuate to the ballpark's club level in the event of severe weather approaching like the Tampa Bay Rays were forced to do during a severe thunderstorm last August.

8. Stadium exterior/concourse: There is new exterior Blue Jays signage and branding at all gates and in-stadium signage directs fans through the ballpark to their sections, concession areas and the Jays Shop. None of those items, of course, were necessary last season with fans not in the ballpark.