Should there be a 2020 MLB season–something that’s still very much up in the air–it remains to be seen whether the Toronto Blue Jays will play out of their Dunedin spring-training complex or share Tropicana Field with the Tampa Bay Rays.
The assumption is that the Blue Jays will not be allowed to open play at Rogers Centre due to quarantine requirements imposed by the national government. If these restrictions aren’t lifted and play resumes, the Blue Jays will need to make a hard choice about their 2020 venue.
TD Ballpark, the team’s Dunedin spring training home upgraded for 2020, is the obvious choice, with a training complex nearby and the lighting reportedly upgraded to meet MLB standards. Other upgrades, such as the installation of additional high-def cameras, would not seem to be insurmountable challenges. And the talk since the season was shut down has centered around the Blue Jays playing the season there.
The backup plan, it would appear, is sharing Tropicana Field with the Tampa Bay Rays. A taxi squad could still training out of Dunedin. The big advantage to sharing Tropicana Field: it’s a climate controlled environment, and presumably avoiding hot Florida nights in July and August would be something that goes over well with players. The other big advantage: Toronto was a team built for synthetic turf, and the Trop features synthetic turf.
A long shot: Using a minor-league facility for play. The Blue Jays’ top affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons (Class AAA; International League), could conceivably host MLB baseball, but we’ve been told there are some concerns that an MLB team playing out of an MiLB ballpark at a time when MLB is planning to contract 42 teams may not present the best optics.
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