Since 1996, the San Diego Padres have served as worldwide ambassadors for Major League Baseball. This weekend, the Padres are making their fifth journey to Mexico to play the San Francisco Giants in a two-game collection in Mexico City, starting Saturday.
Not solely will the 2 contests at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu lastly be the primary two main league video games in Mexico City, they are going to be performed on the highest altitude (7,349 toes) of any sport in MLB historical past. Mexico City is 2,000 toes excessive than the Colorado Rockies’ Coors Field.
“The altitude is higher than Colorado, so I don’t know if you can prep for that,” Padres supervisor Bob Melvin mentioned earlier than the workforce departed Chicago for Mexico City on Thursday. “Our training staff is trying to get everyone ready for once we get there as far as hydration and all that. We’ll see how the game plays once we’re there. Both teams have to deal with it.”
This will probably be Major League Baseball’s sixth regular-season collection in Mexico. Three of the primary 5 concerned the Padres.
The Padres and New York Mets performed the primary Mexico collection in 1996 towards the New York Mets. Three years later, they returned to Monterrey to open the season towards Colorado. They had been again in Monterrey in 2018 to play the Los Angeles Dodgers.
In 2008, the Padres and Dodgers performed a spring exhibition collection in China. And in 2016, the Padres and Houston performed a two-game exhibition collection in Mexico.
The Padres and Arizona had been additionally scheduled to play a two-game collection in Mexico City in April 2020. That collection was cancelled as a result of COVID-19 pandemic.
Players from each groups visited colleges and youth organizations Friday within the lead-up to the collection.
“I’ve traveled a lot in Mexico over the years, a lot in Baja California. But I’ve never been to Mexico City,” Giants supervisor Gabe Kapler mentioned. “I’ve heard great things about the culture, the monuments, the food and the music. I really just want to take a couple of hours and walk around.”
“We have meetings on Mexico every day,” Melvin mentioned. “We’re being informed on what we have ahead. I think promoting baseball around the world is a good thing. I’ve been to Japan a couple times and have had great times both times I was there. I’m looking forward to going to another country and promoting our game again. I think that’s what baseball is trying to do across the board with going to different places. I think we’re lucky enough to be one of those teams this year.”
This will even be the primary assembly between the Padres and Giants this season.
The two-game collection begins with Giants left-hander Sean Manaea (0-1, 6.61 ERA) paired towards Padres right-hander Joe Musgrove (1-0, 5.40).
Manaea, 31, signed with the Giants as a free agent final Dec. 19 after spending the 2022 season with the Padres, the place he was 8-9 with a 4.96 ERA in 30 appearances (28 begins). He is 2-1 in 4 lifetime begins towards the Padres with a 3.22 ERA. This season, he has given up 12 runs on 14 hits and 7 walks with 18 strikeouts in 16 1/3 innings over 5 appearances (three begins).
Musgrove did not make his 2023 debut till April 22 after struggling a fracture to the massive toe on his left foot throughout spring coaching. Musgrove is 4-3 lifetime towards the Giants with a 3.15 ERA in 12 begins (71 1/3 innings). Musgrove was 2-0 towards the Giants with a 1.07 ERA in 5 begins (33 2/3 innings) final season.
The Padres head to Mexico after dropping two of three in a go to to the Chicago Cubs. The Giants had a five-game profitable streak snapped Thursday once they misplaced the finale of a four-game set towards the visiting St. Louis Cardinals, 6-0.
–Field Level Media