Major League Baseball is once again heading south of the border this weekend when the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres meet in the 2026 Mexico City Series. The NL West rivals will play Saturday and Sunday at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú, home of the Mexican League’s Diablos Rojos del Mexico. The 20,062-seat stadium opened in 2019.
“There’s a great baseball culture down there,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. “I played winter ball in Mexico a couple times and I just have nothing but great memories about going down there and playing in front of passionate fans. I’m eager for us to do it.”
The D-backs will be the “home” team for both games this weekend and bat in the bottom half of the inning. Here are the details for the this year’s edition of the Mexico City Series:
The Padres enter the series with a 17-8 record, second best in baseball, and having won 14 of their last 16 games. The D-backs aren’t too far behind in the early going. They’re 14-11 and have won nine of their last 14 games. Considering they share a division with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the D-backs and Padres could be battling each other for a wild card spot come September.
“Get a chance to go down to Mexico City, do a couple fun things, then play two games against the Diamondbacks and then head back home,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “Should be a fun trip. We’re looking forward to it. Fun atmosphere for us all to be playing in.”
With the necessary throat-clearing out of the way, here now is what you need to know about this weekend’s D-backs vs. Padres series in Mexico City.
1. This will be MLB’s seventh trip to Mexico
MLB has played six previous regular-season series in Mexico, beginning with the Padres vs. New York Mets in Monterrey from Aug. 16-18, 1996. Games were played in Monterrey in 1996, 1999, 2018, and 2019. This will be MLB’s third series at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú in Mexico City. Here are the previous two:
This weekend’s Mexico City Series are the only international games on the 2026 calendar (not counting Blue Jays home games). MLB figures to again play games in Mexico and overseas (Korea, Japan, London, etc.) in the coming years, though that’s something the league and the MLBPA will have to sort through during collective bargaining talks after the season. No dates are set yet.
2. Offense should be plentiful
As some of those scores above suggest, there should be shortage of offense this weekend. Mexico City is 7,349 feet above sea level, or more than 2,000 feet higher than Denver. The elevation will boost offense the same way it does at Coors Field, only more extreme. Statcast’s park factors for stadio Alfredo Harp Helú are through the roof.
The Ringer explained the elevation component in 2017:
Physics of baseball expert Alan Nathan estimates via email that the air density in Mexico City is only 76 percent relative to sea level, compared with 82 percent at Coors. According to Nathan’s calculations — holding all else equal except altitude — a “standard long fly ball” with a 103 mph exit speed and a 27.5 degree launch angle would travel 398 feet at sea level. At Coors, it would fly 427 feet. And in Mexico City, it would cover 438 feet.
It’s not just the elevation, though. Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú’s dimensions are pretty hitter-friendly too. It is only 332 feet down the right- and left-field lines, though it is 410 feet to dead center. Diablos Rojos del Mexico hit .322/.397/.518 as a team last season thanks in part to the elevation and dimensions at their home ballpark. So, yeah, expect a lot of runs this weekend.
3. There will be no ABS challenges
Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú is not equipped with the infrastructure needed to run the automated balls and strikes system (ABS), so there will be no ball/strike challenges this weekend. We will have Statcast data for the two games (exit velocity, spin rate, etc.), but the ballpark is not yet set up for ABS. So, no challenges this weekend. Back to the good ol’ days of the umpire’s calls being final.
4. What’s next for both teams?
The D-backs and Padres both had off-days Friday so they could travel to Mexico City and get settled before playing Saturday and Sunday. The Padres will then head home to begin a three-game series with the red-hot Chicago Cubs on Monday. The D-backs, meanwhile, have another off-day Monday. They’ll begin a three-game series with the Brewers in Milwaukee on Tuesday.
