TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays will call Pittsburgh home this season, sharing PNC Park with the Pirates, according to multiple media reports.
Canada’s lone Major League Baseball team was forced to find a new home for 30 games in the 2020 season after the federal government last week rejected the club’s proposal for the Blue Jays and visiting teams to stay in the hotel inside Rogers Centre and never leave the facility during stints in Toronto.
The Blue Jays would have needed an exception to the traditional 14-day quarantine from the federal government to play in Toronto during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Toronto’s season opener is Friday at Tampa Bay. The home opener is July 29 against Washington.
Before the federal government’s decision, the Blue Jays were considering their spring-training facility in Dunedin, Fla., and their triple-A affiliate’s stadium in Buffalo, N.Y.
But surging COVID-19 rates in Florida and a lack of space and lighting concerns in Buffalo made those possibilities shaky, leading the Blue Jays to look at other major-league sites.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 22, 2020.
The Canadian Press
