Excitement in the air as MLB season draws closer
Due to Canadian quarantine regulations, The Toronto Blue Jays will be playing all of their games at TD Stadium in Dunedin, FLA during the 2021 season. (Rachael Bishop/Toronto Observer)
By: Rachael Bishop
As the calendar turns to spring and the weather gets warmer, there is good news on the horizon for baseball fans: MLB Opening Day and the unofficial start of summer.
The 2021 MLB season is due to start on April 1st, and will consist of a traditional 162 game season per team after the pandemic shortened 2020 season. Despite the (mostly) normal season, due to federal quarantine measures, the Toronto Blue Jays are unable to begin their season at home. Instead, they will play at recently renovated state-of-the-art spring training ballpark in Dunedin, Florida.
So, while many Toronto fans cannot watch their beloved Blue Jays in person, they are sure to bring much entertainment and joy throughout many households this summer regardless.
“I’m like any fan, so runs excited me,” said Sportsnet Central Anchor Ken Reid on The Rod Pedersen Show on Tuesday via video call. “They [Blue Jays] might HAVE to win a lot of games 10-9 or 8-7. (…) They are going to be a fun team to watch, so if you like offence for and against, I think you are in for a fun season.”
Reid adds that he doesn’t think the team will have much of a starting pitching staff after ace Hyun-Jin Ryu and that the team may look to the Tampa Bay Rays model for its pitching rotation, but that just adds to the excitement and unpredictability of the team.
To make matters worse, Toronto was hit with a significant blow on Tuesday when the team announced that closer Kirby Yates is expected to miss the entire season due to Tommy John surgery, his second major elbow operation in a calendar year.
This injury news make the Jays need for pitching depth even more urgent.
Yates, who the team signed this offseason, was an all-star with the San Diego Padres in 2019, but he made only six appearances in 2020 before undergoing elbow surgery.
The Jays set to open their season against the New York Yankees on the first of April, a team that has been Toronto’s “kryptonite” throughout spring training. This matchup means the team will be tested early in what is shaping up to be another entertaining and chaotic year of Blue Jays baseball.
(Photo: Toronto Blue Jays)
