Major League Baseball returns to Mexico City’s Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu this weekend for the third time in four years, as the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres square off for a pair of regular season games.
With a capacity of just over 20,000, the six-year-old Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu is one of the best baseball venues in Mexico and the home to the LMB’s Diablos Rojos del Mexico, the two-time defending LMB champions. And in its first two iterations, the MLB Mexico City Series has drawn over 40,000 fans in both 2023, when the Padres faced the San Francisco Giants, and in 2024, the Houston Astros and Colorado Rockies filled the ballpark for a pair of games.
Part of the MLB World Tour, the 2023 Mexico City Series was the first time MLB regular season games were played in Mexico’s capital. While the country had previously hosted regular season games in 1996, 1999, 2018, and 2019, those games were played in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, at Walmart Park, the home of the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol’s Sultanes de Monterrey.
The Diamondbacks last played outside the United States or Canada in 2014, when they faced the Los Angeles Dodgers in a pair of games to open the regular season at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Sydney, Australia, the only time Arizona has played regular season games abroad. They’ve also played exhibition games in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico at Estadio Hector Espino against the Mexico National Team in 2009, the Chicago White Sox in 2008, the Kansas City Royals in 2003, the Padres in 2002, the Athletics in 2001, the Los Angeles Angels in 2000, and the Milwaukee Brewers in 1998 and 1999. They also traveled to Hermosillo to face the Rockies at Estadio Hector Espino in 2010 and at Estadio Fernando Valenzuela in 2015.
The Padres, one of MLB’s best-traveled teams, are making their first trip outside the U.S. or Canada in two years since a season-opening trip to Seoul, South Korea, where they opened the 2024 regular season with a pair of games against the Los Angeles Dodgers. In addition to facing the Giants in Mexico City in 2023, the Padres faced the New York Mets at Walmart Park in Monterrey in 1996, the first regular season series played outside the U.S. or Canada, and returned to Monterrey to face the Colorado Rockies in 1999 for a single game and to face the Dodgers for a three-game set in 2016.
Saturday’s game will start at 6:05 p.m. EDT with San Diego’s German Marquez starting against Arizona’s Zac Gallen. Sunday’s game, scheduled for 4:05 p.m. EDT, will feature Michael King of the Padres starting against Ryne Nelson of the Diamondbacks.
Where to Watch – Saturday’s game will be televised on MLB Network as well as on Padres TV and Diamondbacks TV in San Diego and Arizona, respectively, while Sunday’s game will be on Padres TV and Diamondbacks TV in both markets. Outside the United States, Saturday’s game will be on FOX and FOX ONE in Mexico, and Sunday’s will be televised on ESPN and Disney+ in Mexico.
Photo: Fireworks after the MLB World Tour Mexico City Series between the Houston Astros and the Colorado Rockies at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú on April 27, 2024 in Mexico City, Mexico. (Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images)
