SF Giants to face Padres in historic Mexico City games in 2023

SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants will make history next season as one of the two teams to play the first regular-season MLB games in Mexico City, the league announced Wednesday morning, confirming plans that have long been in the works.

The Giants, who were originally scheduled to head south of the border this season before the lockout-altered schedule, will face the Padres for two games at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú over the final weekend of April, Saturday the 28th and Sunday the 29th.

The games will mark the 12th and 13th times a regular season contest has been played in Mexico but the first in its capital city, as well as the Giants’ first time playing internationally.

“It’s really cool how MLB’s doing this,” said Giants outfielder Luis González, a native of Mexico who moved to the U.S. when he was 9 years old. It’s really cool to see MLB doing that, kind of expanding the fan base and getting more countries involved in baseball. You see basketball do it. You see UFC do it big time now. It’s cool to get out there and show the game to the whole world.”

Should González make the roster next season, the trip would mark his first time returning to his home country. His native Hermosillo is about a two-and-a-half hour flight northwest of Mexico City.

“That’s something that I’ve been looking forward to since I was 14 and I started playing organized baseball,” González said. “I always wanted to go back to Mexico and play with old friends, back where I grew up. For me to be able to go back to Mexico next year, it’s a very, uh – what’s the word – emotionally cool. It’d just be sick.”

The venue opened in 2019, with a capacity of around 20,000, and is home to the Mexican League’s Diablos Rojos del México (Red Devils of Mexico). They hosted the Padres for an exhibition game as the stadium’s first event.

In 2022, the Giants were scheduled to play two games against the Marlins in Mexico City, but the series was canceled by the when the schedule was abbreviated by the 99-day lockout the preceded the season.

Details about ticket sales and travel packages have yet to be announced.