The Toronto Blue Jays have a home again.
After spending the last year as nomadic baseball wanderers, playing their home games at their Spring Training complex in Florida's gulf coast, the Blue Jays will be in Buffalo for the duration of the summer.
And they have a beautiful newly renovated ballpark to play in.
The Blue Jays will begin the Buffalo portion of their schedule on Tuesday with a game against the Miami Marlins. Unlike last season, when the Blue Jays had just three weeks to turn Sahlen Field into a Major League Baseball facility, they've been gifted several months this time around, and seemingly made the most of it.
The team showed off its remodeling on Twitter:
One of the biggest changes to the park is the location of the bullpens. They are now beyond the right field fences, just like in other Major League parks. This was a change from years prior where pitchers would warm up in foul territory in both left field and right field.
No longer will pitchers be afraid to warm up with fear of line drives clocking them in their heads.
The home clubhouse has also been fully renovated, complete with a dedicated music area filled with bongos, congas and maracas.
Despite last year's rushed scene, the Blue Jays still finished with a 17-9 record in Buffalo, and will look to build on that in 2021. Fortunately for them, Buffalo is much closer to Toronto than Dunedin, Fla. They will not have to worry about the treacherous weather conditions of the Florida summers, nor the opposing fans invading the park — which was often the case at their Spring Training home.
To kick off the season, the Blue Jays can fill Sahlen Field to 45% capacity, per orders from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. They're 27-25 to start the 2021 season, 6.5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East.
