It all started innocently enough. Jean and I were watching a baseball game on the tube when she said to me, “You know there is one MLB park we haven’t visited.”

“What are you talking about,” was my reply.

“Buffalo,” she responded. “Isn’t that where the Blue Jays are playing their games?”

She had me by a technicality. Buffalo is not an MLB stadium, but the Toronto Blue Jays played their home games there in June and July, being locked out of their Toronto home by the Canadian government’s COVD-19 restrictions. So rather than engaging in a ‘chicken or the egg’ dichotomy, I decided that even though my bucket list was filled, perhaps one more stadium visit could be fit in.

Checking the Blue Jays Buffalo schedule, I was thrilled to see that the Jays would play their last game in Buffalo on July 21 against the Boston Red Sox. Perfect! In an earlier column, I had mentioned the trouble encountered when trying to purchase online tickets. Somehow that hurdle was cleared, and we ventured north to what became a melancholy night for the Buffalonians.

The city’s ballpark, Sahlen Field, was completed in 1988 in what the locals hoped would lead to obtaining an eventual MLB franchise. That never came to pass and became the home of the Buffalo Bison of the AAA International League, now the AAA affiliate of the Blue Jays. The facility, one of the largest minor league stadiums in the country, seats 16,000 fans and became a logical nesting place for the Jays until their country would let them fly back home.

Buffalo media was full of stories thanking the Blue Jays but bemoaning the impending loss of Major League Baseball from their city. The stadium was packed, and thank yous flowed from everywhere, including the Blue Jays players who came out of their dugout in the third inning enthusiastically waving to the throng who had adopted them so well.

The game itself was great for Red Sox fans that filled half the stadium. The Sox crushed five home runs in the victory, while the Jays hit three, making me think that MLB could stage a record-setting event by moving a future Home Run Derby to the shores of Lake Erie.

I’ve never played a game of dominos in my life, but I do know something about the ‘domino theory,’ which was in full display surrounding the nomadic Blue Jays. Webster defines it as “the theory that if one act or event is allowed to take place, a series of similar acts or events will follow.”

For the Blue Jays to play in Buffalo, the Bison had to find a place to play their AAA schedule. That place became Trenton, New Jersey, which had been the home of the New York Yankees AA team; until the Yankees bolted for Bridgewater Township, NJ, and a team named the Somerset Patriots. The fact that Somerset is the 9th richest county in America, according to MoneyInc.com, no doubt had something to do with that move.

To fill the baseball void in Trenton, the city became a member of the new MLB Draft League set to play their games in 6,341-seat ARM & HAMMER Stadium. But, hold your horses, as in came the nomadic Bison. The Draft League Thunder got the eviction notice from the prospective home before they played a game, instead of having to move their games to Rider University with 1:30 p.m. start times.

While the MLB Draft League has given Williamsport the opportunity to continue to enjoy organized baseball, those sentiments may not be the same in Trenton; especially in the mind of Trenton columnist Jeff Edelstein who penned the following:

“If I sound cynical and bitter about the whole thing, it’s because I am. The Yankees burned Trenton by shriveling up their bats and balls and heading to Bridgewater for their new AA home. That’s right. The Somerset Patriots — a former independent team for the love of Babe Ruth — usurped Trenton.

“Oh my God, do I hate the Yankees. Seriously. Right now, my hatred list looks like this: 1) COVID-19; 2) The Yankees; 3) I have nothing else to hate. That’s it.

“Anyway, our beloved Trenton Thunder baseball team is reduced to playing in a six-team league. Where are the other teams? State College, Pennsylvania; Williamsport, Pennsylvania; Niles, Ohio; Granville, West Virginia; and Frederick, Maryland. The fact state names have to be affixed to the other cities so you know where the hell they are tells you all you need to know about the quality of baseball we can expect.

“I mean, if you can make it in Niles, Ohio, you can make it anywhere, right?”

I doubt the Crosscutters will be staging a Jeff Edelstein night anytime soon.

Meanwhile, those roaming Buffalo Bison will be on the road until August 10 until they can once again play in their home ballpark. Work is now underway to complete the stadium conversion projects needed to welcome them home.

Much of the ballpark signage and branding needs to return back to the Bison from the Blue Jays. The temporary structure housing MLB visiting teams (similar to the structure outside Bowman Field housing teams for the LLB/MLB Classic) will be removed. The former Bison clubhouse is being converted to a visiting Triple-A clubhouse. The Bison will get the benefit of using a larger team clubhouse that the Blue Jays had used.

While dominos isn’t my game, we had a good time. I even took a side trip to Niagara Falls, where we enjoyed a good soaking riding the Maid of the Mist. It was breathtaking. Thanks, Buffalo, even if your MLB experience was short-lived!