NEW YORK -- After season openers in Mexico and Japan, baseball is discussing starting next year in Puerto Rico.

The Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers are likely to open the 2001 regular season in San Juan on Sunday night, April 1, several baseball officials said Tuesday.

"I would say it's in the discussion-of-details stage," Blue Jays general manager Gord Ash said. "There's a willingness to participate. It's just a matter of getting the details done."

Toronto would be the home team in the game at Hiram Bithorn Stadium, Ash said, and the teams would play an exhibition game in Puerto Rico the previous day. A decision on the trip is expected in a few weeks.

ESPN could televise the game as part of its Sunday night package. Network spokeswoman Diane Lamb said ESPN wouldn't comment until after baseball makes an official announcement.

It would be the third straight international opener for baseball, which started the 1999 season at Monterrey, Mexico, with a game between San Diego and Colorado, and opened this season in Tokyo with a two-game series between the New York Mets and Chicago Cubs.

Rangers catcher Ivan Rodriguez, the 1999 American League MVP, would be the top attraction for the game. Rodriguez, who is out for the season with a broken right thumb, was born in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, and lives in Rio Pedros.

Texas infielder Luis Alicea was born in Santurce and lives in Florida.

Toronto first baseman Carlos Delgado is from Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. While he agreed last December to a $36 million, three-year contract extension, he has the right, in the 10 days after the World Series, to demand that Toronto trade him by Feb. 15.

Last year, baseball discussed moving a three-game series between the Rangers and the Chicago White Sox this May 10-12 to Puerto Rico, but nothing became of those talks.

News of these negotiations originally was reported earlier this week by The Globe and Mail in Toronto.