Toronto general manager Ross Atkins says life has been hard for wandering Blue Jays at the start of a baseball season like no other.
The Blue Jays have not yet had a genuine house game and do not yet have a stadium to host them. They played twice as a home team at Nationals Park in Washington this week. They intended to do the same in Philadelphia this weekend until the games were postponed after a Phillies coach and club member tested positive for coronavirus.
“It’s not easy,” Atkins said at a video convention on Friday. “If you put yourself in the place of who is looking to be the most productive in the whole world in something, it has very vital routines.”
Once the upgrades are complete, the Blue Jays will play at Sahlen Field in Buffalo, New York, regularly the park of the Toronto Triple-A team home. Workers compete to install new lighting, the field, expand the pavilions and build batting cages, mounds and outdoor educational spaces in the stadium corridors.
The Blue Jays’ first game in Buffalo is scheduled for August 11, as opposed to the Miami Marlins, who remained inactive until Sunday due to an outbreak in the team.
“It doesn’t look like this is soon, ” said Atkins.
Before opting for Buffalo as their transitional residence, the Blue Jays endured a long, rocky road.
Toronto players racked up at the team’s spring facility in Dunedin, Florida, for admission testing before summer camp. A few days later, after receiving approval from the Canadian government, they flew north to exercise in their original stadium, isolating themselves there and at the adjoining hotel.
At the end of the camp, Canadian fitness officials rejected the concept of normal season play at the Rogers Center, involved in the threat posed by the Blue Jays and their wartime groups who enter and leave the country after games in virus-sensitive spaces. like Florida
Eager to locate a major league stadium to call home, the Blue Jays reached a divided agreement with the Pittsburgh Pirates for PNC Park, but the Pennsylvania Department of Health refused. Toronto asked for a similar deal with Baltimore, but opted for Buffalo, making the announcement just hours before its season open in Tampa Bay last week.
After Toronto beat the Rays last Friday, The Blue Jays’ boxer Cavan Biggio said he and his teammates teamed up to host parties at a minor league facility.
“Even though you’re in a Triple-A baseball stadium, we’re still going to play with a chip on your shoulder,” Biggio said.
Atkins said he had heard any court case from the Blue Jays players about their situation.
“It’s very disruptive and very difficult, yet they don’t communicate about it,” he said. “They’re not aimed at that. I think everyone realizes that this scenario we’re in is much bigger than us.”
The Blue Jays and Nationals are inactive lately due to their opponents’ virus problems, but Atkins said there is no doubt about playing again this weekend.
“In the absence of games to play on our Nationals calendar, it made sense to take a break,” he said.
Toronto games opposed to the Phillies can be compensated for by doubles when groups meet at Citizens Bank Park last September, Atkins said.
“I think we’ll have some explanation for this soon, in a few hours or days,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Blue Jays seek to remain their players physically and mentally occupied by their prolonged tenure in Washington. They have established a domain in their hotel where small teams can socialize for limited periods and have organized a socially remote bus tour of local monuments by Friday night.
“It will be attractive and an opportunity for our players to combine and remain engaged,” Atkins said.
The Blue Jays will be at Nationals Park on Saturday and will play an intrasquad game on Sunday, then fly to Atlanta later that night. After a day off On Monday, a three-game series opposed to the Braves begins on Tuesday.
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