PHOENIX — For the first time in franchise history, the Arizona Diamondbacks will play regular season baseball in Mexico this weekend with two games against the San Diego Padres at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú in Mexico City.
The Diamondbacks have played 12 exhibition games south of the border and were scheduled to play the Padres in Mexico City in 2020 before the event was canceled due to COVID-19.
The games on Saturday and Sunday will be in the highest elevation the Diamondbacks have ever played in, as Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú sits 7,349 feet above sea level. The D-backs play in Denver frequently, but Coors Field is only 5,289 feet in elevation.
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The ball is going to carry in that environment, and runs have been bountiful in the two previous Mexico City Series installments.
The Padres took on the San Francisco Giants for two games in 2023, and the Rockies faced the Houston Astros in 2024. In those four games, 63 runs were scored with 21 home runs hit.
“We know the ball is going to take off there,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “What I don’t want our hitters to do is try and drive the ball, hit long fly balls that carry out of the ballpark.
“I want them to be good hitters. I want them to trust their approach and trust what they’re capable of doing. Good hitters will let balls carry out of the ballpark naturally. If they get an extra 10 feet, seven feet of carry, good for them, but I don’t want us to change our approach.”
The @SFGiants and @Padres made some history with their slugfest at the 2023 Mexico City Series ?
-11 home runs between the teams-Four Padres hit 440+ FT home runs (tied for most by one team since 2015)-Tied for most combined 450+ FT home runs in a game in Statcast Era (2015)… pic.twitter.com/J2YUwNJ2KY
— MLB (@MLB) April 23, 2026
“Obviously, I can hit it out at the beach, so that shouldn’t change,” Ketel Marte said in Spanish.
The D-backs have Friday and Monday off around the two games, which helps the club manage workloads given the unique setting. Lovullo said he will monitor how certain players are feeling, notably Lourdes Gurriel Jr. coming off an ACL tear return and Corbin Carroll, who has dealt with hip and back soreness.
The Diamondbacks will be the home team in both games, wearing their City Connect Serpientes uniforms on Saturday and red alternates on Sunday.
They last played in Mexico during spring training of 2019 against Colorado, taking the field in Monterrey.
Nolan Arenado played in the London Series with St. Louis in 2023, giving him some insight in playing regular season games abroad.
“I think you try to embrace it,” Arenado said. “They are important games, so you try not to treat it like a vacation. But you try to embrace it and have fun with it. But like I said, it’s a business trip. We wanna come out ready to go and hopefully get two wins.”
Diamondbacks’ Mexico City Series things to know
When do the games start, and where can you watch?
The games start at 3:05 p.m. MST on Saturday and 1:05 p.m. MST on Sunday.
They will both be available on DBACKS.TV.
Saturday’s radio call can be heard on ESPN 620 AM, while Sunday’s will be on 98.7. Both will be available on the Arizona Sports app.
Who is pitching?
The Diamondbacks will stay in line with Zac Gallen (1–1, 3.51 ERA) throwing the opener and Ryne Nelson (1–2, 6.97 ERA) taking the ball on Sunday.
Lovullo said the emphasis will be the same as playing in Colorado: Don’t make errors and don’t walk hitters. Balls are going to carry out, so it’s important to play clean baseball and not create chances for the other team to put up crooked numbers. That’s the case in every game but gets stressed in a scoring environment like this.
The skipper also said he will leave Eduardo Rodriguez and Michael Soroka behind so that they don’t have to deal with the elevation when they are not going to pitch anyway. Merrill Kelly will attend just in case something happens that requires a change.
San Diego will start right-handers German Marquez (2–1, 3.86 ERA) and Michael King (3–1, 2.28 ERA), respectively.
First look at the Padres
The Padres have started the season well with a 17-8 record, sitting in a tie for first place in the NL West with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Only the Atlanta Braves have a better record at 18-8.
The D-backs are three games behind the Padres at 14-11.
San Diego’s pitching staff has been the catalyst for first-year manager Craig Stammen’s squad, ranked ninth in team ERA at 3.62. The starters are middle of the pack at 15th, but the bullpen is fourth.
Closer Mason Miller has been the star of the team and one of the scariest pitchers in the big leagues. He has not allowed an earned run since Aug. 5 of last season, when Gurriel took him deep at Chase Field on a 104 mph heater.
Miller is 9-for-9 in saves with 27 strikeouts in 12.1 innings this season.
On the other hand, San Diego’s offense has been lackluster, bottom 10 in OPS and total bases and 17th in runs scored.
Diamondbacks’ president: This is a better plan than Australia
The Diamondbacks have played an international series during the regular season, starting their 2014 campaign in Australia against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
That experience was a bit different, beyond the obvious distance, as the D-backs had to come back and finish spring training before restarting their regular season.
Team president and CEO Derrick Hall expects the Mexico City Series to be a smoother process.
“I think it’s great that we get to carry the flag, and to be an international ambassador is a good thing,” Hall told Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta.
“We opened up years ago against the Dodgers in Australia and looking back, I don’t think that was in our best interest. What is that going to do for us? You’re going to travel 16, 17 hours … and we got our brains kicked in. We came back and had to finish up spring training and then we started 0-3, whereas this is different. We‘re in season. We’re only traveling three-and-a-half hours to a place where we have a lot of friendly fans, and we’re trying to build our fan base.”
The D-backs have played more exhibition games in Mexico than any other club in the majors.
Hall said he’d like to be put into the rotation of teams traveling to Mexico again, saying he hopes Major League Baseball sticks to border state clubs in this event moving forward.
“We dream of having a huge Mexican-born superstar on our roster, like a Fernando Valenzuela,” Hall said. “Well, we need to plant the flag and we need to make sure people like the D-backs and that kids will grow up there wanting to be D-backs.”
Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú seats about 20,000 fans. In a 2018 study by MLB, the Padres were found to be one of the 10 most popular teams among Mexican fans. The D-backs were outside the top 10. Perhaps this weekend is an opportunity to win some baseball fans over.
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