The Toronto Blue Jays First Two Homestands To Happen In Florida – Not Buffalo

A couple of weeks ago, we found out that the Toronto Blue Jays were still exploring Buffalo as a temporary home for games this year...but they'll start in Florida...for now at least.

Most baseball fans in Buffalo were pumped to have the Blue Jays playing their home games in our city last year.  It felt like a perfect option for them to play here while the pandemic was going on.  They weren't allowed to go back and forth between Canada and the U.S. because the border was closed.

Then, this year, they hinted that they were still interested in possibly playing here again this year if the same restrictions were in place.  If they weren't allowed to play in Toronto, they narrowed their options to Buffalo again or Dunedin, Florida.

Why Dunedin?

Dunedin is where their training camp takes place. They've been there since 1977. They head down there where it's warm and practice at The Bobby Mattick Training Center at Englebert Complex. Yesterday, they made the announcement that they would be staying there for the first couple of homestands.

But there could still be a chance that they will play here later in the year. They anticipate there could be a combination of cities that would be the host for Blue Jays games. Keegan Matheson from MLB.com says:

"The involvement of Buffalo depends mostly on the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine and the Canada-US border. For example, if the Blue Jays reach May and feel that they're close to getting the green light from the Canadian government, it would make sense to stay in Dunedin and bypass Buffalo altogether, leaving them with just one move. If that green light is still far in the distance come May, though, then a move to Buffalo mid-summer makes sense for the organization."

That would, however, mean that the Bisons would have to find a temporary home if the Jays decided to play in Buffalo.