Official: San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants to play in Mexico City in 2023
MLB returns to Mexico as the San Diego Padres and the San Francisco Giants will play on April 29 and 30, 2023 at Alfredo Harp Helú stadium in the capital
Claudia Sheinbaum, the head of Mexico City’s government, has announced at a press conference that the San Diego Padres and the San Francisco Giants are the teams designated to play the 2023 Major League Baseball Mexico City Series.
In a two-game series, the National League rivals will meet on April 29 and 30, 2023 at the Alfredo Harp Helú stadium, home of the Mexican Baseball League’s Red Devils. This will be the first regular season MLB series ever to be played in Mexico City.
“Mexico City welcomes these two great teams with open arms in what will be a historic event for the city, an event that will excite the thousands of baseball fans that we have, not only in the capital, but across the country,” said Sheinbaum.
Also participating in the press conference were the MLB’s chief of operations Chris Marinak, Padres president Erik Greupner, and Giants president Larry Baer.
Marinak stated that MLB is committed to returning to the country after the 2023 Mexico City Series over multiple seasons, but could not provide specifics at this time. The new collective bargaining agreement lays out plans for games in London, Paris, Japan, Mexico City, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico over the duration of the CBA.
The MLB’s chief of operations pointed out that the first thing they do in order to choose the teams who participate in the international series is to simply ask each of the 30 franchises if they want to, adding that he hopes to bring different teams to Mexico over the coming seasons .
“The first thing we do is ask the 30 teams who are interested in coming. There are teams that have stronger brands or that have strong ties to Mexico. I can say that many teams showed interest in coming, but we had to work hard to get these two teams chosen. When we return we hope to bring other teams to Mexico City and we hope that other renowned teams in Mexico can come to visit them”, sentenced Marinak.
For his part, Greupner stated that the Padres are “lucky to have such a loyal and passionate fan base in Mexico, and it will be an honor to showcase our team in Mexico's capital at the beautiful ball park which was built and named in honor of the minority owner of the Padres, Alfredo Harp Helú.”
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When was the first MLB game in Mexico played?
The first Major League Baseball regular season game outside the United States or Canada was played between the San Diego Padres and the New York Mets on August 16, 1996 at the Monterrey Baseball Stadium. In that match, Fernando Valenzuela was the starter for the Padres and his team beat the Mets 15-10.