The San Diego Padres are a week away from their 2025 home opener on March 27 against the Atlanta Braves (who now have former Friar favorite Jurickson Profar on their roster).
Opening Day is always a sellout, and the Padres are coming off a record-setting season attendance mark last year (3,314,593).
Will games still be a hot ticket? Should we keep the bandwagon gassed and ready to go? The Sun randomly polled downtown San Diegans to see if they’ll come out to root for the home team.
Core-Columbia resident Joanne Shipman and her husband moved downtown from Del Mar five years ago and became frequent Padres game attendees.
“Since we’ve been here, it’s been really convenient to go to Petco Park,” Shipman says. “It used to be too far for us to go to any games.
Shipman predicts Manny Mechado and Fernando Tatis Jr. will lead the Padres to the World Series this year.
Michael S. Davis, who’s lived in San Diego for more than a decade, says attending a Padres game is the perfect father-and-son activity.
“Unfortunately my son is stationed in [New Orleans],” he says. Last time Davis’ son was in town, however, they went to Los Angeles to catch a Dodgers game.
Parking attendant and East Village resident Zach Husson was decked out in Padres garb. He’s a longtime fan, but didn’t have much to say about the new season other than, “Go Padres!”
Chula Vista resident Ruben Rodriguez is a long-time fan who also has a financial interest in local baseball. His El Puerto Seafood & Beer By the Park is on Tenth Avenue near Petco Park.
He hopes the season brings a spike in sales, but he’s also a die-hard fan, loves Machado and Tatis, and admits to checking the Padres app daily to see who’s pitching.
“I have high expectations for the Padres,” Rodriguez says. “With the [Padres] owner dying, the team didn’t do as much trading this year compared to how we usually do. But I’m always expecting them to go to the playoffs.”
East Village resident Kapri Hockaday isn’t a huge baseball fan. She just moved to San Diego a few months ago. Hockaday lives a few blocks from Petco and plans to go to the games for the “food and ambiance.”
Little Italy resident Quez Patterson is from Chicago and considers himself a die-hard White Sox fan. Still, he goes to the ballpark for up to half a dozen games a year.
“I’m a Padres fan by nature of where I now live,” Patterson says. “I’m hoping the Padres can do a lot better than last year and not lose to the Dodgers in the playoffs. “I’m hoping everyone goes off this year – Tatís – and they go all the way. I’d be cool to see them go to the World Series and play the Yankees.” SDSun SDSun
