The Toronto Blue Jays are heading home. 

It was announced Friday the Blue Jays will return to Rogers Centre for the start of their series with the Kansas City Royals on Friday, July 30.

The club was granted a National Interest Exemption by the federal government that allows Major League Baseball games to be played at Rogers Centre, with robust health and safety protocols in place.

"First and foremost, the Blue Jays wish to thank Canadians for their unprecedented public health efforts and support for the team. Without you, Blue Jays baseball would not be coming home this summer," the team said in a statement.  "In addition, the organization wishes to acknowledge Blue Jays staff and players for their tireless efforts and dedication during a franchise-defining chapter of team history, and whose resilience never wavered through immense challenges and times of uncertainty."

This will mark the club’s first game in Toronto in nearly two years and will begin a 10-game homestand that sees the Jays take on Cleveland and the Boston Red Sox after the Royals.
 
On Thursday, Canada's deputy chief public health officer Howard Njoo said the Blue Jays' return to Canadian soil was "trending in a very good direction,” adding there has been "a lot of good back-and-forth" between the Blue Jays organization and the government over the team's application for a ‘National Interest Exemption’ to Canada's COVID-19 border restrictions.
 
It will mark the team’s first time back at Rogers Centre since July of last year when they hosted summer camp in preparation for the truncated 60-game MLB season. Toronto’s request to play regular-season home games at Rogers Centre was denied, forcing the team to play out of Sahlen Field in Buffalo.
 
The Jays played the first portion of the 2021 regular season at TD Ballpark, their spring training home in Dunedin, Fla., before moving back to Buffalo on June 1.
 
The Jays will begin the second half of the regular season Friday night against the Texas Rangers, sitting eight games back of the American League East Division lead at 45-42.