MLB insider reveals positive news for Blue Jays' All-Star Game hosting bid

The Toronto Blue Jays have played host to just one All-Star Game in their 50 years of existence, and it will likely be a few years before they get to host another one. About a year ago, team president Mark Shapiro said publicly that the team was pushing MLB to consider Toronto as the host city for an upcoming Midsummer Classic. The last one in Toronto was in 1991, held at Rogers Centre when it was still called SkyDome.

Those talks were spurred on by the fact that Shapiro was able to convince team ownership to invest a ton of money into upgrading Rogers Centre in a tiered, phase in process. That process has been completed over the last three years and Rogers Centre looks and feels like a completely different park from the one he inherited when he took over in 2015.

It would be a great venue for an upcoming All-Star game, and considering some cities have hosted two or even three All-Star games since the Blue Jays' last one, it felt due time that Toronto was put back at the top of the list. However, it seemed as if the Blue Jays' bid was put on hold within the last few months. In March, Shapiro told team reporters that the Blue Jays aren't on the immediate list for an All-Star Game. He said, "It’s been put, frankly, on hold. Things have pushed it back”

There are some more pressing needs that needed the commissioner's attention. The upcoming Collective Bargaining Agreement and the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles being the front runners. However, a report by MLB reporter Bob Nightengale of USA Today has now stirred the pot in favour of the Blue Jays, seemingly out of the blue.

Nightengale published a column where he said, "Rob Manfred has spoken openly about the teams at the top of the list for an upcoming All-Star Game…. Here’s what the upcoming years could look like:
2027: Wrigley Field, Chicago
2028: Oracle Park, San Francisco
2029: Rogers Centre, Toronto
2030: Camden Yards, Baltimore
2031: Las Vegas
2032: Fenway Park, Boston
2033: Rate Field, Chicago”

Well, alright then! That seems like it should settle that debate. Unfortunately though, there was no further follow up in Nightengale's column. It was just something he wrote as a "quick point" in his "around the basepaths" section of his article. Whether he has actual inside information on Manfred actually linking the Blue Jays to being an All-Star Game host city, or Nightengale was just spit balling, we're not sure.

Blue Jays hosting the All-Star game long overdue

Regardless of how real Nightengale's prognostication is, the Blue Jays hosting an All-Star Game in the near future would make a lot of sense. They last time they hosted a game, Cal Ripken Jr. was the winner of the Home Run Derby and the Blue Jays hadn't even won their first World Series.

The Blue Jays have done a tremendous job to turn themselves into a legitimate contender again, and have put themselves back on the baseball map. They spend a ton of money on their roster and are backed by a fan base that spans an entire country. The 2025 World Series proved that there is a clear baseball market in Toronto (and Canada) and that a marquee event like the All-Star game would mean big business for MLB.

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