For a second season in a row the Toronto Blue Jays have been denied being able to play at Rogers Centre in Toronto due to Coronvirus 19 protocols. The Jays will being their home games in Florida for the 2021 season.
Homeless in Toronto
That’s Amaury News and Commentary-
By Amaury Pi-González
The Toronto Blue Jays recently signed one of the most coveted free-agents in the market, center-fielder George Springer a 6-year $150 million deal to come and play north of the border.
Unfortunately, Blue Jays fans might not see the ex Houston Astros All Star plays in Toronto this season. Canada’s covid-19 protocol requires all incoming international travelers to quarantine for 14 days, upon their arrival. Like last season, teams going to Toronto might be banned again from entering the country.
Rogers Centre the home of the Toronto Blue Jays will probably be empty during this whole summer, again. The only MLB team in Canada continues to be homeless. So, where are they Blue Jays going to play?
Spring Training is expected to open their camps middle of next month, with pitchers and catchers reporting first. The Toronto Blue Jays who train in Dunedin, Florida, might have to play all their regular season homes games at that facility.
They are not going to play their home games like they did in 2020 at the park of their AAA affiliate in Buffalo. Why? The Minor Leagues are expected to resume play this year and the Blue Jays Triple A affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons will be playing at Sahlen Field (16,600) so that field will not be available.
The Blue Jays are working on a plan to play all their 81 home games at their Spring Training facility, TD Ballpark at Dunedin, Florida, capacity 8,500. Regardless of how many games are played in MLB this 2021 season, the Toronto Blue Jays will not play again in Buffalo and their hope is then to play in Dunedin, Florida. Or there might be another alternative, unknown as of today. A bubble someplace?
According to reports, Commissioner Rob Manfred is planning for a full 162-game season; others believe that beginning the season in mid-May may be more practical, as the nation has moved from testing to vaccination.
To be truly free of this virus, the country must reach Herd immunity. This only occurs when a large portion of a community (the herd) becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. As a result, the whole community becomes protected — not just those who are immune. Seems logical, but this country is over 300 million people, and to reach Herd immunity is not easy.
Vaccination problems. Canada is experiences their own vaccination problems. California, the most populous State in the country today has serious problems with vaccination. The LA Times reported that vaccine shortage could mean in Los Angeles covid shots last until 2022, also California is critically low on covid-19 vaccines and vaccinating 65 and older may last until this June.
The State of California is the worse, #50 and last in vaccinating in the country. California’s population of 39 million people (2020 Census pending) is larger than the whole country of Canada with 37 million. Amazing, considering that Canada is the second largest country in the world by territory, larger than the US.
California leads the way when it comes to teams, we have cinco; Athletics, Angels, Dodgers, Giants and Padres. The 2021 season is complicated; most owners do not want to play again in empty stadiums. Do you blame them?
If you owned a restaurant, would you open it if you do not have any customers? The only certainty so far, is that there are a lot of moving parts on how the season is going to unfold. We are in a new year, but this is not a new problem, like a good friend of mine used to tell me, “The more things change, the more they stay the same”.
Stay tuned and stay well.
Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the vice president of the MLB Hispanic Heritage Hall of Fame Museum and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
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