Series Preview: SF Giants and Padres head to Mexico City

The SF Giants are set to face the rival Padres in a two-game NL West showdown. For the first time ever, they'll head to Mexico as part of the MLB World Tour.

An International Exhibit

The Giants are back in it, baby. After a dispiriting start to the season, the Giants roared back with series victories against the Mets and Cardinals to bring themselves within sniffing distance of .500. Despite dropping the series finale against St. Louis, the Giants are operating with a lot of confidence as they head out to face the San Diego Padres for the first time this year.

The twist, of course, is that they're not going to San Diego for those games. Instead, as part of the MLB's World Tour program, the Giants and Padres will face off in Mexico City's Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu. For the Giants, this represents the first time they'll play outside of the United States and Canada. San Diego has already visited Mexico to face the Dodgers in a 2018 series, albeit in Monterrey, making this the first Mexico City trip for both squads. Technically, as a part of the scheduling arrangement, this counts for one of the Padres' two home series against the Giants... although they may not mind so much, given their home stadium's moniker of "Oracle South". 

The 11-14 Giants enter this series just a game back of the 13-14 Padres, both teams lurking within three games of the division lead despite being 4th and 3rd in the NL West, respectively. Despite being a short two-game series, it's a fantastic opportunity for both teams to gain ground in a muddled division that's yet to see a team truly pull away. As the weekend gets underway, we've got you covered with series details, players to watch, and where to find the games on both local and national broadcasts.

Giants players to watch:

1. Austin Slater (CF) - Slater, of course, enters the Mexico City series as the Giants' greatest offensive force, as we all knew he would be. He may not continue to hit .576 after his return from the Injured List, but Slater's presence will go a long way towards balancing a roster that's seen its platoon splits suffer mightily in his absence. With Slater and Haniger now fully back, it'll be interesting to see how manager Gabe Kapler mixes up his starting assignments and late-inning reinforcements. With the Padres' bullpen led by standout closer Josh Hader and his 0.75 ERA, Slater might see some action in the games' most critical moments this weekend.
2. Alex Cobb (SP) - Cobb will take the hill to close this short two-game series for the Giants, and it's hard to imagine a better starter to handle things in Mexico City. Two of the biggest worries when playing at elevation are walks and home runs, both primarily due to changes in off-speed pitch trajectory. Cobb, then, comes in better equipped than most. The righty has excelled at both limiting free passes (just 4 allowed in 5 starts) and keeping the ball on the ground (1.6 ground ball outs to flyouts). That's part of why he enters the series with an ERA of just 1.91- he's pitching like Prime Logan Webb, and unlike Actual Logan Webb (sorry, Logan), he's not giving up the big hits that end up jacking up your ERA. And while the new "balanced" MLB schedule means there are a lot fewer series at any given park, Cobb's performance against the Padres should be a fascinating glimpse at what to expect when the Giants visit Denver this year. 
3. Blake Sabol (C) - I was going to make Sabol an honorary mention, but with the precarious position that the Giants' catching corps is in, he deserves a full look. While Joey Bart's hamstring remains something to watch, Sabol has had (and will continue to have to) to pick up the slack as the Giants' only real catching option. The Rule 5 pick rewarded the Giants with one of the wildest walk-offs in recent memory, but he's been dinged up behind the plate quite a bit while picking up the slack from Bart. Additionally, the Giants are about to run into the Gary Sánchez crunch - the former Yankees star will be able to opt out of his minor league deal with San Francisco at the start of next month if he's not called up. Do the Giants trust Sabol enough to let Sánchez move on, even if Bart's not at 100%? They will if he keeps doing this:

BLAKE SABOL ARE YOU KIDDING ME 🤯 pic.twitter.com/l0PZIjuTs4

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) April 26, 2023

Padres players to watch:

1. Juan Soto (LF) - Here's a baseball question that will never truly go old - are you more comfortable with your team going up against a guy who's so unbelievably hot that his numbers just can't continue, or a guy who's so unbelievably cold that you know he just won't stay there (as a side note, if you say "Max Muncy" three times while looking in a mirror, he comes to your house and throws your toothbrush into the ocean)? Soto, oddly enough, enters as the latter - going into this series, he's hitting just .189, albeit with the third-best OBP on the Padres. But it's hard to bet on Soto, one of the five or ten best hitters in the game, staying under the Mendoza line for long. If the Giants can somehow manage to contain Soto, it'll go a long way towards muzzling a Padres team whose star hitters have underperformed so far this year. If not... at least the series is only two games long.
2. Yu Darvish (SP) - Darvish is in a bit of a career renaissance in San Diego, which is especially impressive given that the guy's never gone more than two years without making an All-Star team. Over the past three years, Darvish has received Cy Young votes twice, "merely" making the All-Star team in the one he didn't. Simply put, the crafty veteran's been one of the MLB's best and most consistent pitchers over the past decade, which should make for an interesting matchup a Giants offense that's been terrific against righties (.796 team OPS, third in MLB), but has been capable of being overwhelmed by sheer talent. One thing Darvish hasn't necessarily done well this year? Walks. Darvish is allowing a walk every other inning, something the Giants will need to take advantage of in the mile-and-a-half-high Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu.

Series Details:

Who: SF Giants at San Diego Padres
Where: Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu, Mexico City, Mexico
When: Sat. 4/29 @ 3:05 PM, Sun. 4/30 @ 1:05 PM. All times PT.

Projected starters:

Saturday: Sean Manaea* (0-1, 6.61 ERA) vs. Joe Musgrove (1-0, 5.40 ERA)

Sunday: Alex Cobb (1-1, 1.91 ERA) vs. Yu Darvish (1-2, 3.00 ERA)

*Indicates LHP

How to watch:

• Giants broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area, KNBR 680/1510 AM
• Padres broadcast: Bally Sports San Diego, XEMO 860/97.3 FM
• National broadcasts: MLB Network (both games)