All 30 Major League Baseball teams will train in their regular season stadiums for the next season, cut short by the pandemic. The Toronto Blue Jays, the last club whose practice venue had not been confirmed, received an exemption from the Canadian federal government on Thursday to work at the Rogers Center.
Toronto will move its camp from the preseason complex in Dunedin, Florida, where the players showed up for initial tryouts. The Blue Jays will create a quarantine environment at the Rogers Center and the Toronto Marriott City Center Hotel, from which you can look out over the field.
This exemption does not cover the regular season, nor travel between the United States and Canada.
Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro said the club is confident it will know within 10 days where it will play its regular season games.
“They feel good about being here,” Shapiro said of the players. “Toronto was a safer and more comfortable place for them to be.”
COVID-19 cases have increased in Florida and earlier this week several players and staff in Dunedin tested positive. Toronto and Canada have begun to reopen as the number of new cases declines.
“Ultimately the plan requires players and team personnel to be in a closed environment at the Rogers Center, isolated from the general public,” the team stressed in a statement.
The players will travel on a chartered plane to Toronto this weekend. Each will require a negative two coronavirus tests before boarding the aircraft.
And all players will undergo a daily test.
“Only those who test negative for COVID-19 in this registration process will be allowed to join the Canadian travel group,” the team reported.
The MLB required an exception to the rule that requires anyone entering Canada on non-essential matters to remain in quarantine for 14 days. The United States-Canada border remains closed for non-essential travel, at least until July 21, two to three days before the season opens.
“Although there is not yet a final decision on where the Blue Jays will play at home during the regular season, the club prefers to remain at the Rogers Center,” the club commented. “The team continues to pursue this option with the health and safety of the general public and the team in mind first.”
Canada’s federal and local health authorities approved a plan for the NHL, the ice hockey league, to play in Toronto or Edmonton. But this plan does not involve travel between the United States and Canada. The NHL will choose host cities – most likely two – in which the teams will play. (GG) (Taken MLB.COM)