The Miami Marlins will play three games in Puerto Rico during the 2020 season
Major League Baseball and the Miami Marlins are returning to Puerto Rico next season.
MLB announced Monday they will play a series against the New York Mets in San Juan, Puerto Rico, during the 2020 season, which will be their third year under the Bruce Sherman/Derek Jeter ownership group. The three-game set is scheduled for April 28-30 at San Juan’s Hiram Bithorn Stadium. The Marlins will be designated as the home team for the series.
“It is an honor for the Marlins to represent Major League Baseball in this special series against the Mets,” Jeter, the Marlins’ CEO, said in a release. “Miami serves as the gateway to the Caribbean and Latin America, and we are grateful for the chance to showcase the new Miami Marlins organization to our neighbors in Puerto Rico. We are looking forward to the opportunity of celebrating Puerto Rico’s rich baseball heritage and passion for the game and continue our mission to grow the game of baseball in our community while fostering the shared love for our National Pastime.”
The games will come nearly four years after the Marlins’ last attempt to play in Puerto Rico during the 2016 season was squashed due to concerns about the Zika virus. The two-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates on May 30-31 was instead moved to Marlins Park.
The 2020 season is also the first in which the Marlins plan to have a bulk of the players acquired during their latest rebuild on the major-league roster, giving fans an initial glimpse at what’s to come. A few of the building pieces — position players such as Brian Anderson, Jorge Alfaro, Garrett Cooper and Isan Diaz (who is of Puerto Rican descent) as well as pitchers including Caleb Smith, Sandy Alcantara and Pablo Lopez — are already here.
The club hopes to have top prospects such as pitchers Sixto Sanchez and Edward Cabrera and outfielders Jesus Sanchez and Monte Harrison on the roster at some point during the season.
The Marlins are 44-73 this season as they prepare for a three-game home series against the Los Angeles Dodgers that starts on Tuesday.
It’s the fourth time in Marlins history they will play in Puerto Rico. The club played a three-game set against the Mets there in June 2010, winning two of three. They also played three games there against the Montreal Expos in 2003 and 2004 when the Expos played 43 “home” games at Hiram Bithorn Stadium. The Marlins went 5-1 in those games.
Three other MLB games have been played in San Juan: one game between the Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers on April 1, 2001, and a two-game series between the Cleveland Indians and Minnesota Twins in April 2018.
More 2020 schedule details
In addition to playing in Puerto Rico at the end of April, the Marlins will open and close the 2020 season at home. The season begins with a six game homestand against the Philadelphia Phillies (March 26-29) and the Washington Nationals (March 30-April 1). It concludes with six games at home against the Cincinnati Reds (Sept. 21-23) and New York Mets (Sept. 25-27).
The Marlins play their interleague games against the American League West in 2020, hosting the Los Angeles Angels (April 14-15), Seattle Mariners (June 5-7) and Texas Rangers (July 7-9) while traveling to the Oakland A’s (June 29-July 1) and the Houston Astros (Sept. 1-3). They also play their annual Citrus Series against the Tampa Bay Rays, playing at Tropicana Field on July 28 and 29 and at Marlins Park on Sept. 8 and 9.
While times for all games have not been finalized, weekday home games (Monday-Thursday) in April, May and September will start at 6:40 p.m. Most Saturday games will be at 6:10 p.m.
This story was originally published August 12, 2019 at 11:47 AM.
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