Blue Jays to play at ‘home’ in Buffalo amid pandemic

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

The Blue Jays will play “home games” at Sahlen Field in Buffalo, home of the club’s Triple-A affiliate Buffalo Bisons. General manager Ross Atkins had previously said that if team could not find a major league park, Buffalo would be the most likely site.

The team sought a major league stadium after the Canadian government declined to allow them to play in Toronto but was unsuccessful. Pennsylvania health officials then rejected a deal to play in Pittsburgh because of rising COVID-19 cases there.

The team also held talks with the Orioles about Camden Yards, but the Blue Jays didn’t want to wait to see if Maryland officials would say no with season starting Friday.

“Baltimore never got to a situation to where we were denied,” Blue Jays President Mark Shapiro said. “At some point continuing to explore and look at 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.”

The Blue Jays opened the season in Tampa Bay on Friday. The team said the first scheduled home series, against the Nationals on July 29 and 30, will take place on the road to accommodate infrastructure modifications at Sahlen Field to meet Major League Baseball standards and COVID-19 safety requirements.

The Blue Jays’ first game in Buffalo will be either July 31 against the Phillies or Aug. 11 against the Marlins.

“It’s going to be different because of the way it is in Toronto compared to Buffalo,” Vladimir Guerrero Jr. said through a translator. “There are no fans anyway. We’re just going to go play baseball.”