NO BASEBALL IN CANADA! DID MANFRED DROP THE BALL?

After months of waiting, this week it is finally time to PLAY BALL! The Yankees are making their final preparations and will start the season in Washington. Other teams starting at home are making their final preparations also. All teams are checking the final "to do's" off of their list....except the Toronto Blue Jays.

I don't like last minute changes, and now neither do the Blue Jay and unfortunately they will have to completely change their plans. Multiple sources are carrying this story, but we will go with the New York Post HERE. The Canadian government has denied the Blue Jays to play their home games in Rogers Centre.

Not a good problem to have when the regular season is starting in four days. Granted, the Blue Jays will be on the road until Wednesday July 29th when they were scheduled to have their home opener against the Washington Nationals. Now that the Canadian government has said "NO" now they have very little time to figure out where exactly HOME is going to be for 2020.

The Canadian government is concerned with the possibility of increased transmission to citizens within the country, understandably. Canada has flattened their curve while we are still a breeding ground. Sending people back and forth across the border for months just adds a lot of uncertainty and risk. I understand why they said no. It's not even a matter of if we should like or accept their answer. It is what it is. But honestly, this is just a consequence of what happens when MLB and the players union argued for months. Let me explain....

Aside from baseball I am a big hockey fan and the NHL got their "return to play" right and we did it all wrong. The NHL took their time, looked at scenarios in more detail then Rob Manfred and MLB did. And here's why....

When the NHL kicks off games will be played in two hub cities, Edmonton and Toronto. Teams will not be traveling back and forth to other cities like MLB. Sure, the Yankees will "only" be traveling in a much smaller scale this season and will be staying within their timezone. Great. However, the NHL is staying within their hub cities. NHL teams are doing a self-quarantine period and then staying put in whichever city is considered their HUB. So this just goes back to should MLB have spent more time and consideration on the idea of hub cities? Maybe but I don't know if it would've been possible at this point. Months ago New York was a hot spot and cities like Miami and Phoenix weren't....and now they are. A lot has changed.

The Canadian government isn't not only worried about the Blue Jays traveling to Coronavirus epicenters, but also other teams traveling from hot spots and into Toronto. Remember, Canada has flattened its curve so the idea of the Blue Jays traveling to play in Florida is scary, but the Rays traveling FROM Tampa into Toronto is probably even scarier....and with no quarantine period. So this just isn't reasonable.

Even if we want to say that HUB cities that MLB would've considered weeks ago wouldn't be feasible now, shouldn't MLB have been a little more diligent? Did they assume too much? We have a 60 game season but I have to wonder if we checked in with Canada on this. Were they consulted at all on what the season would look like? The Blue Jays are a part of MLB, but they also reside in a different county. We are still dealing with a border closure between Canada and the United States until at least August 21st. We are still in pandemic mode and the United States is still the center of attention in regards to the Coronavirus. This isn't a good look for us.

So who knows where the Blue Jays will play now. There's talk about possibly staying in Dunedin, FL their Spring Training home or possibly in Buffalo, NY where their AAA affiliate is. It's a lot to figure out in very little time. 

So did Manfred drop the ball on this one? Maybe this was avoidable. Is his lack of leadership the cause for this last minute chaos? His lack of problem-solving skills has always annoyed me. Even if he isn't the only one to blame...he's still a failure and a clown.

Guess we will have to wait and see how this is resolved, MLB will need to clean this mess up and FAST.

--Jeana Bellezza

BYB Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj