Blue Jays players pushing to play in MLB park

The Toronto Blue Jays are homeless just ten days before their scheduled home opener, and the players aren’t willing to accept just any stadium.

Blue Jays pitcher Anthony Bass said Sunday that he and his teammates want to play in an MLB-level park, and he made that clear to GM Ross Atkins. Bass went on to say that Atkins assured him that the organization was trying to comply with the wishes of the players to make that happen.

Obviously, where Blue Jays play their home schedule will be determined by Blue Jays front office in concert with MLB. But Bass says GM Ross Atkins told him yesterday the club is working to get the team into a big-league ballpark: pic.twitter.com/agqcPdk17d

— Arden Zwelling (@ArdenZwelling) July 19, 2020

There’s only so much the Blue Jays can do, but it sounds like they’re trying. Some sort of agreement to share a stadium with another team based in an area with a relatively low caseload is possible. However, with the schedule already set, the Blue Jays and Major League Baseball would probably have to get very creative for such an arrangement to work.

It had previously appeared that Buffalo was the most likely destination for the Jays, especially when the city’s mayor extended an invitation to the franchise. It’s pretty clear that the stadium isn’t up to MLB standards, though, and would not fit with the wishes of the players. The city of Charlotte has also been mentioned, but again, Truist Field was built for a minor league team and has a capacity of just 10,200, so it probably wouldn’t be good enough for the players either.