TORONTO – Three roller-coaster weeks of discussions with federal health and government officials resulted in the Toronto Blue Jays being granted a National Interest Exemption on Friday, allowing them to return home for a pivotal 10-game homestand beginning July 30.
Team officials were informed of the decision around 6 p.m. ET, and Marco Mendicino, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, signed the order shortly before joining Blue Jays Central to announce the news.
The July 30 contest against the visiting Kansas City Royals will be the club’s first at its Rogers Centre home since an 8-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Sept. 29, 2019.
So grateful for the support and hospitality in Dunedin, and Buffalo but after over 650 days, we will finally be coming HOME. Cannot tell you how excited we are to play in front of our fans and in our city and our country. Get ready Toronto - we are coming back! https://t.co/aXYq0bv4Z8
— Mark Shapiro (@MarkShapiro) July 16, 2021
“The fans, that's the No. 1 thing (the team has missed),” manager Charlie Montoyo said after a 10-2 win over the Texas Rangers. “It seems like we've been playing on the road (the whole time) even though Buffalo has been great. There are a lot of fans from New York and even though they have been great to us, it's not Toronto. Toronto is one of the best cities in baseball and just to see all the fans pulling for us, that's going to be a plus for us. Everything about Toronto is just awesome. You should have seen the faces of everybody when we found out, everybody was so happy about it.”
A positive outcome for the Blue Jays was far from a certainty when the team submitted its proposal to the federal government some three weeks ago, and club officials swung between optimism and pessimism daily, sometimes hourly.
Time had been running out for them to logistically pull off a move north from Buffalo and a decision was needed by Friday, although they were willing to play things out a little longer if needed.
But momentum picked up Thursday after Dr. Howard Njoo, Canada’s deputy chief public health officer, said their application was “trending in a very good direction” and didn’t include any “showstoppers.” Talks Friday finalized the protocols, highlights of which include:
A dual-track plan in which fully vaccinated players are treated like any other returning traveller and exempt from quarantine, while partially vaccinated or unvaccinated players are limited to their residence/hotel and the ballpark; unvaccinated players cannot interact with the general public and any violation of the rules is punishable by the loss of quarantine exemption and the possibility of fines or prosecution under the Quarantine Act; pre- and post-arrival testing for everyone, plus four more tests a week for all unvaccinated individuals.
The Blue Jays were still sorting through how they’ll be treated under Ontario’s current pandemic rules, but with Rogers Centre expected to be considered an outdoor venue, they should have a capacity of 15,000 under Stage 3 regulations.
“The hardest part was just not knowing,” said third baseman Cavan Biggio. “A bunch of 'we'll see in a week' or 'we'll see tomorrow' or 'we'll see then.' Last year, we all knew with COVID being very fresh in our minds and in the world, that was just part of it. And going into this year, we knew we probably weren't going to start in Toronto, but we still really didn't know. Finally getting that information of, 'we're getting to the finish line and we're finally going to be able to go back to Toronto' was a very satisfying feeling and definitely exciting.”
Earlier this week during the All-Star Game, the Blue Jays representatives in Denver talked about their desire to head north, with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. saying in an interview that, “we miss our own fans a lot.”
“When we played in Dunedin, pretty much all the fans were rooting for the other team,” he added in comments interpreted by Hector Lebron. “When we played the Yankees in Buffalo, everybody goes for the Yankees. It's kind of hard.”
No place like home.
7.30.21 #WeAreBlueJays pic.twitter.com/DI90MaHaRO— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) July 16, 2021
Shortstop Bo Bichette added: “We want to get home, you know? We've got a chance to make the playoffs and we'd love to have fans rooting for us. That would be amazing. But if it doesn't happen, we'll just continue to fight and continue to battle in Buffalo and do our best.”
No need for that with the Blue Jays’ lengthy displacement coming to an end after what will be an unprecedented third move in a single season. Their home schedule began at TD Ballpark, their spring facility in Dunedin, Fla., and transitioned to Buffalo’s Sahlen Field in June.
A two-week sprint awaits in which the Blue Jays must move all their equipment north, rehire staff to sell tickets and set-up and staff the stadium, pack up the apartments and close out leases in Buffalo and find and move into new places in Toronto.
“That's why this team deserves so much credit,” said Montoyo. “You've never seen a team that moves that many times in a season. Hopefully we'll never see it again. You're talking about clubhouse guys, families, the leases that we got here in Buffalo now, everybody's got to talk to the (landlords) to see what we can do about leases. The same thing happening in Dunedin. It's going to be our fourth move (including last season). But our fourth one is a happy one because we're going back to Toronto. So even though it's going to be tough ... at least we're going back to Toronto and that makes it easier.”
Returning home in time for the July 30 homestand was a priority for the Blue Jays to have a real home-field advantage in time for a crucial 10-game stretch. That represents an eighth of their home schedule and having fans that will be stoked about the club’s return, seeing the club for the first time since its emergence as a playoff contender, and with Guerrero Jr. in the midst of what’s shaping up as the best offensive season in team history can be a powerful mix.
The chants are only going to get LOUDER.
Goodnight, #BlueJays fans pic.twitter.com/r0m3wkXRj6— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) July 17, 2021
Though the attendance numbers can’t be the same because of capacity limits, it’s akin to the fuse lit in 2015 when the Blue Jays took off after the trade deadline and the building rocked for the next two-and-a-half years.
“I remember being in college (at Notre Dame) and watching those Blue Jays games and just remember how electric they were,” said Biggio. “Then when my name got called by the Toronto Blue Jays, that was the No. 1 thing that I thought of when I got drafted, picturing myself being in the Rogers Centre, being in important games in September and October and just having that crowd behind your back and just ultimately the electricity that you could see on TV and wondering what it's going to be like on the field. That's always the vibe and the thoughts when you're in the minor leagues, grinding in Dunedin or wherever you may be, it's always the goal to get to. And now that we've been here and we're finally going back to Toronto with a solid team, I'm very excited, to say the least.”
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiYmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnNwb3J0c25ldC5jYS9tbGIvYXJ0aWNsZS9kZXNwaXRlLXRyaWNreS1sb2dpc3RpY3MtYmx1ZS1qYXlzLXJldHVybi1jb21lcy1jcnVjaWFsLXRpbWUv0gFhaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc3BvcnRzbmV0LmNhL21sYi9kZXNwaXRlLXRyaWNreS1sb2dpc3RpY3MtYmx1ZS1qYXlzLXJldHVybi1jb21lcy1jcnVjaWFsLXRpbWUvc24tYW1wLw?oc=5
2021-07-17 03:53:00Z
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