Mexico Series is bigger than baseball for Padres Spanish broadcaster

MEXICO CITY -- When Eduardo Ortega lands in Mexico with the Padres -- and this will now be his fourth time doing so -- he thinks about all of it.

He thinks about playing pickup baseball games with his two brothers, imitating Mario Thomas, the Spanish voice of the Padres when Ortega was a kid growing up in Tijuana.

He thinks about those years he spent as a radio DJ, a talk show host, a news reporter, clinging tight to his dream of becoming a baseball broadcaster.

• FAQ: All you need to know about the Mexico Series

He thinks about his past trips to Mexico with the Padres -- the three regular-season series in Monterrey, including a particularly poignant moment in 1996, when MLB came to Mexico for the very first time. There were other exhibition games, too, as well as a day trip he vividly remembers, going alongside Tony Gwynn and Rod Carew as ambassadors at a clinic in the ‘80s.

Ortega, now in his 37th season as the Spanish-language voice of the Padres, thinks about all of it. And -- you know what? -- it's all a bit overwhelming.

"I know Thursday night, when we land from Chicago, it's going to be very special," said Ortega, his eyes beginning to well. "It happened to me in Monterrey in '96 and '99, and then 2018, when we played the Dodgers. It gets emotional."

He has to pause, collect himself.

"Very special," Ortega continued. "Just very, very special. Proud to be Mexican in the Major Leagues."

The Padres and Giants play two games at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú on Saturday and Sunday in Mexico City, the first two regular-season games ever played in the Mexican capital.

They'll do so amid quite a backdrop. And there's no one better qualified to summarize that backdrop than Ortega:

"It's the best moment of Mexican history for baseball -- ranking third [in the world baseball rankings] after the World Baseball Classic," Ortega said. "Baseball has grown in Mexico. More states and more fans are following baseball because of what happened in the World Baseball Classic. But also, all of the buzz the Padres have created, building this team ... a lot of fans from Mexico are watching the Padres, growing this fanbase.

"It's just a great moment to be an ambassador for both sides -- for Major League Baseball and for Mexico."

Ortega has called 25 World Series and 20 All-Star Games. He's called 17 Caribbean Series, including the latest one in February, an eight-team edition that was the largest in history. And he was the lead Spanish play-by-play voice for each of the first four World Baseball Classics.

"Broadcasting in Spanish is a lot different than broadcasting in English," said Pedro Gutierrez, Ortega's partner on Padres Spanish radio. "You've got to have a little bit more flair and a little bit more flavor. He oozes it. He goes by far, above and beyond, and it comes from his passion for baseball."

Ortega's résumé speaks for itself. Gutierrez believes staunchly that Ortega will, sooner or later, become the first Mexican enshrined in Cooperstown.

And yet, those who are closest to Ortega almost never gush about his broadcasting chops first. They gush about the person.

"When I started working with him, the first thing that somebody told me was: See how he treats people," Gutierrez said. "Whether it be an elevator operator at a stadium we don't know, or it was [former Padres GM] Kevin Towers ... everybody would see Eduardo, and it puts a smile on their face. That's just the way he treats people."

Ortega brings his unending enthusiasm to the broadcast booth. “Sabor Latino,” Gutierrez calls it. Ortega has announced dozens of the sport's biggest games. He also spent plenty of time during the 2010s calling some bad Padres teams on a nightly basis.

"In terms of just sheer emotion, it doesn't matter if we are the 2016 Padres on a losing streak, or we're the 2022 Padres going to the NLCS, or he's doing ESPN Game 7 of the World Series and Rajai Davis just hit the homer in Cleveland,” Gutierrez said. “It's the same passion on every single pitch. That's a pretty high standard."

It's a standard Ortega strives to maintain every day.

"In the end, I'm always thinking, based on my love of baseball: promote the game and sell the stars on the field," Ortega said. "That's the goal -- and should be -- for every broadcaster, to connect the game with the audience."

Said Gutierrez: "He tries to present the players in the best possible light. He'll drop a story about each player -- his parents come from here, parents come from there, and he can connect a little bit with the audience, trying to give that little background."

First and foremost, Ortega’s passion is baseball.

Within that passion, however, there are clearly two passions: Padres baseball and Mexican baseball. This weekend, they’re intertwined.

“The first ever official game, with San Diego being the home team, in Mexico City, the capital of the country -- it’s very special,” Ortega said. “I can’t wait to call the game there and make another chapter of history where the Padres are starring.”