Blue Jays’ trip to Williamsport adds another unique chapter to franchise history

The Toronto Blue Jays are heading to Williamsport, Pennsylvania next season. Major League Baseball announced Sunday night that the Blue Jays will face the Chicago Cubs in the 2027 MLB Little League Classic.

The game is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 19, 2027, at Journey Bank Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field, with Toronto serving as the home team. The national broadcast will air on ESPN in the United States and on Sportsnet in Canada at 7:10 p.m. ET.

The announcement was made by Commissioner Rob Manfred during ESPN’s broadcast of the 2026 Little League Classic between the Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers. It will be the 10th year MLB's has an annual game connected to the Little League Baseball World Series, and the first time the Blue Jays are involved, while the Cubs played the Pittsburgh Pirates in Williamsport in 2019.

However, it's not the first time the Blue Jays are heading out of Toronto to play a game where they will be the "home team." The latest examples of this came during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the Blue Jays were forced to play their 2020 schedule in Buffalo, New York. Then in 2021, they split their early-season home games between Dunedin, Florida, and Buffalo before eventually returning to Toronto.

On a more positive note though, Toronto has been asked to partake in some marquee events in the past.  On April 1, 2001, the Blue Jays opened their season against the Texas Rangers at Estadio Hiram Bithorn in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Toronto was the designated home team and made quick work of the Rangers in an 8-1 win.

The franchise has also dabbled in the idea of bringing Blue Jays baseball outside its usual home market in other ways. From 2014 to 2019, the club hosted spring training exhibition games at Olympic Stadium in Montreal, drawing on the city’s long-standing baseball appetite and keeping the conversation around Montreal’s MLB viability alive. The Blue Jays were also supposed to play the New York Yankees in London, England, in 2026 before the plan was pulled from the schedule.

Blue Jays get a chance to shine in the national spotlight with Little League game

The Blue Jays will get a chance to play in the national spotlight, a nice gesture from the league after ESPN recently pulled a Sunday Night Baseball game that was supposed to feature the Blue Jays. It will be their first appearance in one of MLB’s most charming annual events and another entry in the franchise’s short but interesting list of home games played somewhere other than Toronto.

As has become tradition, players from both teams are expected to spend part of the day around the Little League World Series, interacting with young players and families before taking to the field to battle in a game that will count towards the regular season standings.

What's interesting is that the Blue Jays were scheduled to play the in Boston against the Red Sox, Aug 16-18, then use the Aug. 19 date as an off day, before hosting the Cubs Aug. 20-22 (Fri-Sun). It looks as if the league will jiggle around those dates and possibly have the first game of their three game series on the Thursday, before resuming the series again in Toronto on Saturday - meaning the Blue Jays will lose a Friday home game at Rogers Centre.

However, for a team that has spent the past few years watching MLB lean harder into special-event games, this is a welcome addition. It gives the Blue Jays a different kind of stage to play on.

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