TORONTO -- The new artificial turf at Rogers Centre has played to mixed reviews. More than one-quarter of the way through the 2015 campaign, the surface has become a topic of discussion -- for better or worse -- in virtually every home series the Blue Jays have played.
The consensus is that it's softer and thus easier on the body than the previous surface, which was blamed for contributing to wear and tear on players over the course of 81 Blue Jays home games. The new surface appears to mitigate that.
To the displeasure of hitters, the new turf has been repeatedly noted to suck up grounders, and hits to the gap that used to roll for extra-base hits are dying in the outfield.