Blue Jays hope to play at home, examining other options

The Toronto Blue Jays are optimistic about hosting games at Rogers Centre in 2020.

"We'll see. I certainly hope so. I'll remain hopeful," Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins told reporters Thursday, according to Rob Longley of the Toronto Sun.

It's expected most teams will play home games this year at their regular stadiums without fans in attendance. However, Major League Baseball's lone Canadian franchise might be forced to host contests in the United States due to COVID-19 restrictions at the border.

The border is currently closed to most travelers, and anyone entering Canada must quarantine for 14 days regardless of whether they show symptoms. Canada and the U.S. plan to extend the current restrictions beyond June 21, sources told CBC's Katie Simpson and Peter Zimonjic.

Both the Blue Jays and their opponents would presumably be subject to such restrictions if games were played in Toronto. The organization is exploring alternatives in case it's impossible to host contests in Canada.

"The options are either playing in Florida, playing in another major-league stadium, or playing in a minor-league facility," Atkins said. "Those are the ones that we have considered."

Atkins added that the Blue Jays want to "exhaust all of our other alternatives" before staging regular-season games in their longtime spring-training home of Dunedin, Florida.

The province of Ontario has moved onto Phase 2 of its reopening but professional sports events were not included in this step, according to Rob Ferguson of 680 News.