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An official announcement is expected to come
early this week, with the Blue Jays players arriving in Toronto
by the middle of the week. Major League Baseball's resumed
spring training begins Wednesday.
Federal approval is needed because non-essential travel between
Canada and the United States has been banned since March 20 amid
the coronavirus pandemic. The travel ban is in place until July
21 but could be extended.
"I've been in conversation with (team president and CEO) Mark
Shapiro all weekend," Ontario Premier Doug Ford told Sid
Seixeiro of Sportsnet Radio. "He's just waiting for the letter
of support from the Federal government. There's a few tweaks
here at the province that the doctors want to work out with
him."
The Blue Jays are planning to play their 30 home games at Rogers
Centre against opponents from the American League East and
National League East. Shapiro previously said there would be no
fans in the stands.
The team will be required to quarantine for 14 days. The Toronto
Marriott City Centre Hotel is attached to Rogers Centre, and the
team reportedly will stay there because direct access would
allow them to go back and forth between their rooms and the
stadium.
The Blue Jays' less-preferred option was to play the season at
their spring training site in Dunedin, Fla.
An unspecified number of Blue Jays players and staffers tested
positive for COVID-19 last week, which Shapiro said he expected.
"Any time you do comprehensive tests, the numbers go up,"
Shapiro said on a conference call on Friday. "We are testing
every single person at intake. That's going to be part of the
transition process into creating the closed environment as much
as possible around our players."
(Field Level Media)
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