PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - D-backs After Dark: Mediocre Marketing for Mexico City

Episode Date: April 27, 2026

If the Diamondbacks and Padres play each other in Mexico City and nobody knows about it, did it really happen? Derek and Damon give their thoughts on MLB doing a poor job of promoting the Mexico City Series, this being a joke of a home game for Arizona, and why 20 teams in baseball deserve better treatment from the league. Limited-time offer! Become a Diehard for just $36: https://gophnx.com/intro-offer-youtube WHILE SUNS ARE IN PLAYOFFS Limited-time offer! Become a Diehard for just $32: https://gophnx.com/suns-playoff-offer-youtube JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4 An ALLCITY Network Production SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtube ALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports MERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-locker ALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of Phoenix PHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/ Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order! Husband & Wife Law Team: If you’ve had a serious injury, Call The Husband & Wife Law Team first at 602-783-8841 or visit https://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?utm_source=allcity-padcasts&utm_medium=digital-phx&utm_campaign=allcityShowNotes bet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485317 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets! Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ.  If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/ Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Shady Rays: Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 40% 2+ pairs of off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people. Circle K: Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you! When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You are now listening to PHNXDbacks after dark. I have ranted and raved already on our program several times about the Mexico City series and the proverbial ball that MLB dropped here, Damon, with their only international series in 2026. But I feel like it's justified. Don't you agree? Like what I know I've screamed about it, but what were your thoughts on how they promoted this series, how they made it available? And just in general, the way that MLB treated the Mexico City series between the D-Baks and the Padres. I mean, I said it on the post game show.

I was shocked that it was on D-Backs TV. I was shocked that it was on the regional sports network and not some sort of elevated platform. I know some people didn't like it when I said it on the postgame show, but even like an Apple TV game would have made more sense to me because it would be something special. Just something special. Yeah, Friday night baseball and Apple TV does feel fucking special. And this did not.

This was a sham. It felt like a regular ass game. It felt like a regular ass game. Other than the home runs flying out of the ballpark. Yeah. Well, and I mean, even that right, that part is electric. Until I opened my goddamn stupid mouth,

there weren't many home runs. flying out at all in game two or in game one. It definitely wasn't this, you know, amazing, like, you know, the elevation, obviously, of the stadium was something that was talked about quite a bit, 7,300 feet of elevation approximately. And everybody was expecting a slug fest, which we kind of got in game two a little bit with the Diamondbacks just whooping the Padres late, putting up 10 runs. But this whole thing just felt like it was a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, poorly executed premiere event that MLB did not seem to view as a premier event. And as we discussed

on the show, it's not like it's the only fucking time they've had an international series in the past. They have had no problem about throwing every goddamn resource they had to promote this type of series, to promote it when it's in Japan, to promote it when it's in Mexico. So obviously it's been in the Mexico in the past. It has, you know, the inaugural Mexico series took place back in 1996 between the Padres and the Mets. And has been just a consistent part of baseball since then. I mean that we had the Rockies facing off against the Dodgers or excuse me, the Dodgers there against the Padres, the Rockies facing off the Padres and the Giants facing off

against Padres. Padres have been there a lot, by the way. That's another goddamn problem I had with this series, Damon. This series was a home series for the Diamondbacks. That's another thing that I have screamed about quite a bit. But how is this a fucking home series for the Diamondbacks? Explain that to me. When the Padres have a deep and storied history of playing in Mexico,

they have a Spanish name for their literal nickname Padre. Last time I checked was a Spanish word. And I'll take it even a step further. The ballpark that they played in is Estadio Alfredo Harp Helou, right? You've heard that name? Alfredo Harpe-Helieu is the Padres minority owner. He is a part owner of the San Diego Padres, and he also owns the Diablo's Rojas,

which is a local team that plays its home games at that stadium. And I'm supposed to believe that this sham of a series is a home series for the Diamondbacks. All of it feels wrong. All of it feels stupid to me, and I might just still be bitter about the first. fact that you and I didn't get to go see it. Yeah, definitely that part of it stinks.

Oh, the street tacos would have been amazing. Insane. And obviously, you know, fuck it. I'll say it. It's free ad Sunday. You had Taco Bell last night. I also had tacos last night, but, and they were great. They were, you know, very high quality in Tucson.

I would not describe my tacos as great by any stretch of the imagination. But God, damn it, would it have been great to have some actual like Ciudad de Mexico tacos, Derek? Oh my God. The ones I was sending you on the Instagram reels. I know. For months ago. Damon's been sending me the Instagram reels of tacos and we were making bookmarks and

and starting artineraries and yet, you know. We were like, ooh, we could hit this place up, this place up and then Ray Mysterio shows up and it's just the things. Pardomo's cooking. Ah, don't even get me started on Ray Mysterio showing up. Perdomo's cooking. Literally cooking. It's, you know, it's just it's. It's like they were throwing it in our fucking faces.

They really were. 100%. Like, oh, not. only are we here, but look, WDWWE W wrestlers are here. I can't even say the words because I'm so emotional. Emotional. Emotional about it. Damon could have been served food by Geraldo Perdomo.

By Geraldo Perdomo. I could have locked eyes with him. I mean, it probably would have been more than that. He would have invited you up in the truck to just shoulder to shoulder with him, get in on the hot dog making process. It could have been Damon and Domo. Dogs by Damon and Domo? Wow.

How hard does that go? I mean, there's tears coming to my eyes right now. Damon and Domem and Domo. dog stand. Derek, that's special. I'm angry about it. Yeah. I'm upset. This is what they took from us. That's what they took from us. It is. You know what? You know, it was, I wish it was, it felt like a bigger deal because it felt like it should have been a big deal to us. And then it ended up kind of just being regular games. And it was great. I mean, it was a really fun game today. It was awesome. To be fair, though,

it's very expensive for us to go and, and produce this show from Mexico City and do it there. and you and I were so willing to take on that work and do it. But honestly, honestly, now that it's over, I just take a look at it and think MLB didn't do their part to help us do that. Because it wasn't a special enough event to send Damon and Derek down to Mexico City. Well, other international series were, I think. And that was kind of your point earlier. Absolutely. It feels like, and I know a lot of people always are like, oh, you know, woe is me.

everyone's out to get us, but like it really does feel like when the diamondbacks are involved, that's when it's like, well, okay, who cares? Yeah. And it's, remember when the World Series ratings weren't great? Yeah, by this team that's only been around for, you know, in a state that is the baseball state, the baseball state of all states, you know, half the teams are headquartered here. And it's like you should want, and obviously like there's a lot of different fan bases in this market that exist and it's unfortunate.

And we'll probably never be able to shake that fully. But you can continue to grow the local fan base. And it feels like the Diamondbacks should be a bigger deal to Major League Baseball, making them like a bigger market team and catching them up to speed with what the city of Phoenix is market-wise. Seems like it should be of the utmost priority. And in moments like this, you feel like maybe MLB is, they don't really care about this team. And I don't think it's just the Diamondbacks either, right?

I think the Padres also fall into this. The Padres are just the default team to go to Mexico all the time because their names in Spanish. So they just go on, go play another NL West rival team down in Mexico. And they're on the border. And look, I'm not saying that. But again, that just, this goes back to my whole point about how outrageous it is to try to have the Diamondbacks be the home team in a series against a team that has played so often in Mexico, has a Spanish name and plays on the border. But that, all that aside, right? Like, it does feel like they don't care even about the Padres.

And I feel like this would be the same. If this was a different series between two other teams that weren't the Dodgers or the Yankees or the Mets or the White Sox or the White Sox or excuse me, not the White Sox, the Red Sox, Philly's, you know, Cubs. Right. Look at what they did with the Cubs. Not the White Sox. Not the White Sox. Not the White Sox. But the Cubs and the Dodgers, their games were nationally televised this weekend when it should have been this series.

between the Diamondbacks and the Padres. And instead, we get put on the local broadcast. The series gets very little attention. And when all of a sudden done, something that should have felt special and unique, felt like just another regular season series that no one really gives a shit about. You know, and that's on MLB.

I don't blame the Diamondbacks. That's not their fault. They did their share of hyping this up and trying to make people excited about it. I mean, I don't, I do think there is things that they could have done differently, right? I'm not sure, but I don't really remember seeing a travel package to Mexico City that you could get through the Diamondbacks in the same way that they're offering one to go to Boston,

to go to Fenway, right? But again, there's also a lot involved when you're talking about traveling internationally. So I understand them perhaps not wanting to get involved in that. However, it does seem like a very smart way to bring as many of your own fans to this game to root for you and make noise for you at this supposed home game as pop. possible. Yeah. No, it feels like they drop the ball big time.

Like it's just and it's it's like we said and we say all the time. It's the same way with the draft. It's the same way with the MLB hot stove, which now lasts three months. Oh my God. You know, there's still players that are somehow unsigned it feels like and like. There's still Ketel Marte trade rumors somehow circulating around. Yeah. It's it's just, you know, it feels like everything drags with MLB.

don't take advantage of moments. They don't, they don't take advantage of, of really marketing anything except for Shohei Otani and the Dodgers. Oh, they'll put decoy on that account as many times as they can. They'll put Otani, you know, with his hair sticking out of his helmet on the main account. Well, that's cute. I couldn't care less. I really couldn't. And if it was any other player, no one else would. But, you know, that seems to be their priority. It's fine. You know, it's not a shock.

But I think the best leagues and the most successful leagues are the ones that, you know, have the teams that are in Kansas City or Buffalo that can draw as much ratings as anybody else. Yeah. And NLB is just not really at that spot right now. And I feel like the priority should be getting it to that place where the Diamondbacks playing internationally is awesome. It's, and people want to watch it.

Rather than, well, if the, if the Yankees or the Dodgers or the Red Sox or the Mets are playing, then I'll go, I'll watch that series. But if not,

then I don't really care. And that's, and that's the problem. It goes for every team too. Yeah. Like, I mean, it goes for 20 teams.

You know what I mean? There's, there's 10 teams that probably like actually hold enough weight. That's the marquee matchups. Yeah. I throw the Phillies in there. Even the Braves, because they have such a regional,

you know, huge amount of people. Like, there's like six states where the Braves are like the closest team. And I've said it in time and time again, but I mean, based on not having a baseball team here in Phoenix

when I was a kid, like the Braves had a far reach. So they had a good chance. The Braves and the Cubs had kind of a superior opportunity. Again, in the 90s and then the 80s of reaching people that other teams could not reach. But man, I'll tell you, it just feels like it's unfortunate

and I don't really know what needs to change other than change at the top. You know, Rob Manfred, the commissioner, the way that things are ran overall in baseball, I feel like needs are a revamp. And this administration under Manfred has been very focused on changing the game itself to make it more appealing to fans, which is great. But I still think Major League Baseball does a terrible job of promotion.

And it really does go from team to team based on what those individual teams are doing. It's once again why the Dodgers have such an advantage over every team in baseball based on their reach and their ability to properly market and strike deals, especially international deals, that no other MLB team is ever going to be able to strike. Well, some might. And they have the craziest regional deal of all time.

Sure. Sure. There's that too. You know, they've essentially, you know, ponied up with a, partnered up with a LA cable network that were they're exclusive

so that if you want to watch Dodger baseball, you have to have that network. And I mean, it's, it's probably a smart play from their perspective. They probably have a lot of people that hold on to their cable subscriptions solely because of that. And so, you know, I get it. But it's a huge advantage when one team's making, you know, what is it, like 600, 700 million on their television rights deal. And everyone else is making like 100. You know what I'm impressed by how this was supposed to be us bitching about the Dodgers or the debacks of the Padres that we got around to the Dodgers.

It's debacks after dark, baby. Fuck the Dodgers. Hell yeah. It's what we fucking do around here. You're no, there's no question about it. Well, I think we can all agree that this series was poorly promoted, but luckily the Diamondbacks make it out with a split. And hopefully they don't make it out with any kind of, you know, any kind of hangover due to this international series. Or big time injury. I mean, they obviously got a little bit banged up, Pardomo, ADC.

So hopefully those are not as bad as in Gowan as well, not as bad as we think. I mean, it seems like Perdomo says he's feeling better than, you know, maybe he expected to. Gallin said the same thing. And then ADC, it's a dislocated finger as we talked about on the postgame show, which feels like it could have been a lot worse than that with how fragile hands are. Agreed. Well, I am your mayor, occasionally known as Derek Montia. You can follow me at Cap underscore K-Man on social media. He is your dog.

You can follow him at Damon Dog on socials. That is with a DAWG at the end. Of course, all roads do lead to app pH and N. underscore sports and you can find our show at phnx underscore debex thank you guys for your time appreciate you joining us for another session of us ranting and raving and using the f word as much as we can we'll see you back here next time and until then behave yourselves and remember kids baseball is fun but it's so much more fun when you properly promote it