The Toronto Blue Jays were denied Canadian government approval to play baseball games in Toronto amid the coronavirus pandemic.

With that decision, the Toronto Star is reporting that the Blue Jays will choose either Buffalo, the home of their Triple-A affiliate, or Dunedin as their home city for the 2020 season.

“Unlike preseason training, regular season games would require repeated cross-border travel of Blue Jays players and staff, as well as opponent teams into and out of Canada," said immigration minister Marco Mendicino. "Of particular concern, the Toronto Blue Jays would be required to play in locations where the risk of virus transmission remains high,” Mendicino said.

The denial means that the Blue Jays could not play baseball games at all in their home country.

"Based on the best-available public health advice, we have concluded the cross-border travel required for MLB regular season play would not adequately protect Canadians’ health and safety. As a result, Canada will not be issuing a National Interest Exemption for the MLB’s regular season at this time," Mendicino said.

The Blue Jays said they respected the government's decision in a statement.

"Though our team will not be playing home games at Rogers Centre this summer, our players will take the field for the 2020 season with the same pride and passion representative of an entire nation," said Blue Jays' President and CEO Mark Shapiro in the statement. "We cannot wait until the day comes that we can play in front of our fans again on Canadian soil."

The Yankees don't have to worry about where they will be playing their division rivals until September 7, but they are set to be the away team against them seven times this year. The Mets were originally scheduled to travel to Toronto on September 11 for a three-game series.

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