Pirates open to idea of PNC Park as possible home field for displaced Toronto Blue Jays

Rejected from playing at Rogers Centre by the Canadian government amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Toronto Blue Jays are looking into the possibility of playing home games at PNC Park this season.

And the Pittsburgh Pirates are welcoming the idea with open arms.

The Pirates’ home ballpark is one of an undisclosed number of major-league stadiums the Blue Jays and MLB are considering for an alternate site, their players’ preference over playing at a minor-league park.

“In an effort to help in the return of the game we all love, we continue to have active discussions with Major League Baseball and the Toronto Blue Jays organization regarding the possibility of hosting home games for the Blue Jays at PNC Park this season,” Pirates president Travis Williams said Monday in a statement released by the team. “This will be a monumental challenge for our staff, but leaning in to help others is what Pittsburghers do best.

“If we are able to safely accommodate, not only will it bring additional international attention to our city, it will also bring with it jobs and revenue for local hotels, restaurants and other businesses that will support the Blue Jays organization as well as additional visiting teams.”

Pittsburgh could be a prime location, given its proximity to Buffalo’s Sahlen Field, home of Toronto’s Triple-A affiliate that could serve as the team’s training base. Sahlen Field’s facilities are considered too cramped to host major-league teams for a regular-season game.

Toronto also is expected to consider playing home games in Tampa, sharing Tropicana Field with the Rays, or at their spring training home at TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Fla.

“I personally feel our best situation to be in is to be playing in a major-league ballpark and I think that’s where we’re going to thrive and win,” Blue Jays reliever Anthony Bass said Sunday on a Zoom call. “That was pretty much echoed in our clubhouse, that we want to be in a major-league ballpark, wherever that is.”

According to the Associated Press, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins declined to identify the teams but said the Blue Jays have more than five contingency plans.

“We would much rather be in a major league facility,” Atkins said.

The Pirates are a natural fit, considering general manager Ben Cherington previously served as Toronto’s vice president of baseball operations and assistant general manager Steve Sanders was the Blue Jays’ former director of amateur scouting. Pirates manager Derek Shelton also previously worked for the Blue Jays.

The Pirates and Blue Jays, however, have seven overlapping dates on their 30-game home schedules and “a minor shuffling of the schedule likely could reduce that number to five,” the Toronto Sun reported.

The conflicts are on July 29, when the Pirates play Milwaukee and the Blue Jays are to play their home opener against the Washington Nationals; Sept. 8-9, when the Pirates play the Chicago White Sox and the Blue Jays play the Yankees; and Sept. 21-24, when the Pirates play the Cubs and the Blue Jays play the Yankees again.

The Blue Jays play in the AL East with the Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays and will play interleague games against the NL East, with the Atlanta Braves, Miami Marlins, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies and the Nationals.

The Pirates, who play in the NL Central and against the AL Central, won’t face any of those teams at PNC Park. MLB plans to start its regular season Thursday with no fans in attendance. The Pirates open the season with a three-game series at St. Louis before returning to PNC Park for a three-game homestand against Milwaukee.