Buffalo new home venue for Blue Jays

TORONTO — The displaced Toronto Blue Jays will play in a minor league ballpark in Buffalo, New York, this year after being turned down by the Canadian government and blocked from playing in Pittsburgh by the state of Pennsylvania.

The Blue Jays’ home for the season will be Sahlen Field, where the Triple-a affiliate Buffalo Bisons usually play.

The team had been looking for a major league ballpark for its home games after the Canadian government wouldn’t allow it to play in Toronto, but the search was unsuccessful. Pennsylvania health officials rejected a deal to play in Pittsburgh because of rising COVID-19 cases there.

The team also held talks with the Baltimore Orioles about Camden Yards, but the Blue Jays didn’t want to wait on Maryland officials with their season starting Friday.

“Baltimore never got to a situation to where we were denied,” Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro said. “An option like Baltimore was not going to be a risk we could take. That risk of being turned down certainly existed. And so we obviously had to make a decision knowing we had a very good alternative, albeit not a major league one.”

The Blue Jays opened the season at Tampa Bay. Their first scheduled home series, against Washington on July 29 and 30, now also will be on the road to accommodate infrastructure modifications at Sahlen Field to help it meet MLB standards and COVID-19 safety requirements.

The Blue Jays’ first game in Buffalo either will be on July 31 against Philadelphia or on Aug. 11 against Miami.

The team also had considered playing home games at its training facility in Dunedin, Florida, but that is among the states that are virus hot spots.

Canada and Pennsylvania health officials were worried about players’ frequent travel throughout the U.S., one of the countries hit hardest by the pandemic.

General manager Ross Atkins had said his team had more than five contingency plans for a home stadium.

“I’m excited we finally have to a place to play,” manager Charlie Montoyo said. “We’re done with that.”