Canada denies Blue Jays permission to play games in Toronto

The Canadian government has denied the Blue Jays approval to play games in their home city of Toronto during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Rob Gillies of the Associated Press. While the Blue Jays were given the go-ahead by the city of Toronto and the province of Ontario to host regular-season games at the Rogers Centre, they were still awaiting clearance from the Canadian federal government.

In a statement, Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino provided reasoning for the decision, via Gillies:

"Unlike preseason training, regular-season games would require repeated cross-border travel of Blue Jays players and staff, as well as opponent teams into and out of Canada. Of particular concern, the Toronto Blue Jays would be required to play in locations where the risk of virus transmission remains high."

"Based on the best-available public health advice, we have concluded the cross-border travel required for MLB regular season play would not adequately protect Canadians’ health and safety. As a result, Canada will not be issuing a National Interest Exemption for the MLB’s regular season at this time."

As of now, the likely outcome is that the Blue Jays pivot their regular-season games to Buffalo, the home of the franchise’s Triple-A affiliate. Dunedin, Florida, where the team holds spring training, has also been floated as an alternative, though Buffalo now looks preferable given the state of the virus in Florida.

In an official team statement, the Blue Jays said they are “in the process of finalizing the best home location for the remainder of the 2020 season and will share an update as soon as it is available.”

This development comes as something of a surprise, as just days ago it was looking like a good bet that the Rogers Centre would host regular-season games as intended this year. However, shuttling MLB teams back and forth across the U.S.-Canada border poses undeniable concerns about preventing the spread of COVID-19, which have only been heightened in light of diverging coronavirus trends between the United States and their neighbors to the North.

As reported by Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet, the Canadian government has informed the Blue Jays that it would be “open to considering future restart plans for the postseason” if at that time risk of virus transmission has been tempered. But for the time being, it’s looking like Toronto will have to wait until 2021 for Blue Jays home baseball.