Opening Day at Petco Park: Everything you need to know
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Fans enter Petco Park on Opening Day in 2022. Photo: Denis Poroy/Getty Images
Baseball season is back, and with any luck we can avoid that whole "crushing embarrassment of historic proportions" that we got to experience last year.
Why it matters: It's Opening Day at Petco Park, so you'll want to steer clear of downtown if you're skipping the revelry; however, fans are downright giddy to bid goodbye to the long, cold, wet and baseball-less winter.
- This is the 20th anniversary of Petco Park — happened quick, didn't it? — and Gallagher Square just got a $20 million facelift.
State of play: First pitch between the Padres and San Francisco Giants is at 1:10pm today, with Yu Darvish starting for the good guys and Logan Webb for the Giants.
- Ballpark gates open at 11am.
- Pregame festivities — which include Sheel Seidler, widow of former Padres owner Peter Seidler, throwing out the first pitch — begin at 12:30pm.
- Petco Park will remain open after the game so that ticketed fans can stay to watch San Diego State take on defending NCAA national champion UConn in a Sweet 16 game on the Gallagher Square big screen.
Before Friday's game, the Padres are giving away hats to the first 40,000 fans and holding a pregame party with $5 drinks and live music.
If you go: The Padres are advising fans to prepurchase parking or to use public transportation.
- The Metropolitan Transit System is offering service to the stadium on all three trolley lines, along with additional trains after the game to accommodate crowds.
Catch up quick: The retooled Padres cut payroll by $90 million this offseason, including trading superstar Juan Soto.
- Mike Shildt steps in as manager after Bob Melvin's departure.
- The Padres rebuilt their bullpen, with $46 million-reliever Robert Suarez replacing Josh Hader as the closer.
- Dylan Cease, the former Cy Young runner-up acquired by the Padres in a blockbuster trade this month, will start Saturday.
Manny Machado will begin this season as a DH as he rehabs an elbow injury.
- He'll anchor the lineup, along with Fernando Tatis, Jr., who remains in right field.
- Jackson Merrill, the team's top prospect, is transitioning to center field for his rookie season.
Padres games are available for streaming this season through a PADRES.TV subscription — $99.99 for the season or $19.99 a month.