TORONTO (AP) — The Blue Jays won’t play their home games in Toronto this year because Canada’s government doesn’t think it’s …
TORONTO (AP) — The Blue Jays won’t play their home games in Toronto this year because Canada’s government doesn’t think it’s safe for players to travel back and forth from the United States, one of the countries hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic.
Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino said Saturday the federal government had denied the Blue Jays’ request to play at Rogers Centre, confirming what an official familiar with the matter had told The Associated Press ahead of the announcement.
The team had been given clearance by city and provincial governments to play in its home stadium and was awaiting approval from Canada’s federal government. The other 29 Major League Baseball teams plan to play in their home ballparks, without spectators, when the pandemic-shortened 60-game season begins on July 23.
Mendicino told The AP frequent travel to the U. S., where COVID-19 cases are surging, was the biggest issue.
“There were serious risks if we proceeded with the regular-season proposal of the MLB and the Jays and therefore we concluded it was not in the national interest,” Mendicino said. “I get that some people will disappointed but this decision can’t be taken as a fan. It is taken on behalf of the health and safety of Canadians.”
The Blue Jays were informed via a phone call. The team’s alternate site for home games is its training facility in Dunedin, Florida, which is among the states that are virus hotspots.
