TORONTO – The Toronto Blue Jays, displaced once again by pandemic border restrictions, will open the 2021 season at their spring home in Dunedin, Fla., according to multiple industry sources.
An internal email Wednesday informed staffers of the decision, which is expected to be announced Thursday, when the club holds its first official workout for pitchers and catchers this spring.
For now, the shift to TD Ballpark covers homestands April 8-14 against the Los Angeles Angels and New York Yankees and April 27-May 2 versus the Washington Nationals and Atlanta. Similar to the NBA’s Toronto Raptors, the Blue Jays will assess take time to determine the status of the May 14-24 series with Philadelphia, Boston and Tampa Bay and beyond, in the hope the border may open up and allow a return to their Rogers Centre home Toronto.
Settling on a temporary home, at least the early portion of it, allows the Blue Jays to avoid the type of chaotic scramble that preceded the decision to spend the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign at Buffalo’s Sahlen Field.
