Editorial: Pa. swings and misses in Blue Jays call

The score in a game is more than just a record of who won and who lost.

The score is a way to navigate through the game itself. It charts the progress from the first pitch to the last run. It lets a team know where it stands.

So why wasn’t the state paying attention when the Toronto Blue Jays were looking to land in Pittsburgh for whatever remains of the 2020 baseball season?

On Wednesday morning, there was some excitement in the Steel City as it looked like the Pirates would be sharing PNC Park with the Toronto team. The Blue Jays were looking for a U.S. base of operations after the Canadian government declined to let games be played at the Rogers Centre to keep Major League Baseball traffic on one side of the border.

It seemed like a home run. Not only would the City of Champions get back to some serious pro sports after a long coronavirus-induced drought, but it would be twice the teams. Hotels and other businesses around the ballpark, parched for revenue, were pleased.

By Wednesday afternoon, the state Department of Health stepped in and the Toronto possibility was going, going, gone. So why did Pennsylvania have to ruin a good play?

“In recent weeks, we have seen a significant increase in the number of covid-19 cases in Southwestern Pennsylvania,” Secretary of Health Rachel Levine said in a statement. “To add travelers to this region for any reason, including for professional sports events, risks residents, visitors and members of both teams.”

OK, sounds reasonable. That’s why sports have been shut down for months, after all. But time out — what about the Pirates? They are still going to be playing at PNC Park. What exactly is the difference between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Cleveland Indians or the St. Louis Cardinals?

Is it that Toronto is in another country? That seems like more of a downside for the Blue Jays as Ontario — geographically larger and more populated than Pennsylvania — has about one-third the covid-19 cases of the Keystone State.

Would an additional team based out of Pittsburgh increase the number of people? Yes. But as the games are being played without fans in the stands, the numbers don’t seem like that big an issue. The state hasn’t shut down interstate traffic or closed the airports. People still travel into and out of Pennsylvania every single day.

And why wait until the decision was made to call the play foul? Why not let PNC Park officials know days earlier when news first broke that Pittsburgh might be the Jays’ home away from home?

It all seems to come back to the state’s tendency to make a move and then change course. Reacting to changing information is one thing, but that doesn’t look like the case with the stadium.

It looks more like no one was paying attention to the score until the game was over. Maybe the Wolf administration needs to keep an eye on the ball.