Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú


Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú is a baseball stadium in Mexico City, Mexico. It has hosted the Diablos Rojos del México baseball team, which competes in the Mexican League, since its opening in 2019. It holds 20,576 spectators, making it the second largest baseball stadium in Mexico, behind only the Estadio de Béisbol Monterrey. In December 2019, MLB announced it would be staging a two-game series at the stadium in April 2020 between the San Diego Padres and the Arizona Diamondbacks, pending the outcome of the COVID-19 outbreak. It would have been the first time MLB scheduled a regular season game in Mexico City prior to its cancellation.

Background

The stadium was built between turns 1 and 3 of the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, in the famous Magdalena Mixhuca Sports City in Mexico City. Its construction was announced in 2010, due to the need for a suitable professional baseball park since the Red Devils were forced to rent Foro Sol between 2001 and 2015.
The Diablos Rojos had moved to the Foro Sol due to the demolition of the Parque del Seguro Social, where they shared a home with their rivals, the Tigres de Quintana Roo, between 1955 and 2000.

Opening

The ballpark was inaugurated on, with an exhibition game against the San Diego Padres. The inauguration was attended by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and the Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum. The ceremony was the first time that the President of Mexico had thrown the "first ball" in a baseball park since 1947, when Miguel Alemán did so. The starting pitchers were Arturo López for the Diablos and Ryan Weathers for the Padres. The San Diego Padres won the game by a score of 11–2. The first official LMB game was the first of the inaugural series against the Tigres de Quintana Roo on, won by the Diablos Rojos by a score of 14-8.