The Toronto Blue Jays will play their home games in Buffalo, New York. this baseball season, Gov. Andrew Cuomo acknowledge in a press conference Friday. The team had been looking for a new venue since the Canadian government decided it couldn’t host opponents flying in from the United States, where an average of nearly 70,000 coronavirus cases are being diagnosed per day.

The Blue Jays will go from Toronto’s Rogers Centre to Buffalo’s Sahlen Field, home to the franchise’s minor-league affiliate. The venue is available with minor-league baseball being canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Baltimore was thought to be an option for the Blue Jays, who were turned away by the state of Pennsylvania after the Pittsburgh Pirates had agreed to let the team play at PNC Bank Park. Sahlen Field’s capacity of 16,600 is the lowest in MLB, though no fans are allowed in major-league ballparks anyway.

“Working with the department of health, I think we can come up with protocols that keeps people safe and we’ve done that,” Gov. Cuomo said at a press briefing Friday. “And if we can get Toronto playing here, I say, ‘great.’ We have the protocols in place. It will be done safely, but the horse is out of the barn on this one. Major League Baseball is going to play. They’re gonna play all across the nation, fanless. If it’s going to happen, I’d rather it happen here. It’s good for Buffalo.”

The New York Yankees and Washington Nationals opened the season Thursday night. The Blue Jays play their first game Friday night on the road against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Toronto’s first home game is scheduled for Wednesday, July 29.

Toronto Blue Jays Rogers Centre
Toronto Blue Jays players take part in an intrasquad game at Rogers Centre on July 9, 2020 in Toronto, Canada. Mark Blinch/Getty Images
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