Blue Jays to extend netting at Rogers Centre next season

The Toronto Blue Jays joined a growing trend in baseball Monday by announcing plans to extend protective netting at Rogers Centre further down the baselines for the start of the 2020 season.

The netting will also be extended at the team's spring-training home in Dunedin, Fla.

"Fan safety is paramount to the Blue Jays and we believe that fans should feel protected and secure during our games," Blue Jays executive vice president of business operations Andrew Miller said in a statement. "Extending the protective netting at Rogers Centre and Dunedin Stadium is a clear next step for our organization and one that reflects our team's values."

While the team is committed to having the additional netting in place at both stadiums by the time next season begins, the exact configuration remains a work in progress, according to Sportsnet's Ben Nicholson-Smith.

Major League Baseball mandated that all 30 teams extend netting at least partway down the lines before the 2018 season due to several scary incidents involving fans being struck. The Blue Jays complied, and netting at Rogers Centre now extends to the end of both dugouts.

But the injuries to fans have nonetheless continued to rise across the league. Several high-profile incidents this year, including one involving a 2-year-old child in Houston, have prompted even louder calls for MLB to mandate netting down the lines in all 30 parks.

The Chicago White Sox became the first team to extend netting from foul pole to foul pole in June, debuting the protection the following month. Several other teams have announced plans to do the same, though like the Blue Jays those clubs won't make the change until 2020 at the earliest.