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Blue Jays granted exemption to train in Toronto

FILE - In this Oct. 7, 2015, file photo, Toronto Blue Jays Russell Martin, center, and Troy Tulowitzki, left, prepare to take batting practice during a team workout at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. The Blue Jays will create a quarantine environment at Rogers Centre and the adjoining Toronto Marriott City Centre Hotel which overlooks the field. (Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

TORONTO (AP) — All 30 Major League Baseball teams will train at their regular-season ballparks for the pandemic-shortened season after the Toronto Blue Jays received a Canadian federal government exemption on Thursday to work out at Rogers Centre.

Toronto will move camp from its spring training complex in Dunedin, Florida., where players reported for intake testing. The Blue Jays will create a quarantine environment at Rogers Centre and the adjoining Toronto Marriott City Centre Hotel, which overlooks the field.

This exemption does not cover the regular season and player travel between the U.S. and Canada. Blue Jays President Mark Shapiro said the team hopes to know within 10 days where it will play regular-season games.

“They felt better about being here,” Shapiro said of the players. “Toronto was a more comforting and safe place for them to be.”

COVID-19 cases are surging in Florida as health officials reported a new single-day record total of 10,000 new cases, and before this week several players and staff in Dunedin had tested positive. Ontario reported 153 new cases and businesses in Toronto are reopening as the number of new cases declines.

Players are to take private charter flights to Toronto this weekend. Each will need two negative tests before getting on the plane, and each will then be tested every day.

“We do have a plan for that,” Shapiro said of the regular season. “We still have some areas to address. I would say we’re 80% of the way there with pure public health issues, but then there are travel-related issues.”

Shapiro said visiting teams would not leave the confines of Rogers Centre and the hotel attached to the stadium if the regular season plan is approved. Shapiro said the Major League Baseball Players Association supports the proposal, but players’ union spokesman Chris Dahl said the association had not yet signed off on the plan.

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