The Los Angeles Dodgers will play their home opener at a sold-out Dodger Stadium today against the Arizona Diamondbacks with changes to the concession stand menus and stadium.
New food items include:
— the Gouda Kobe Burger, Kobe beef, topped with caramelized onions, pickle, smoked Gouda and special dressing, available at Elysian Park Grill;
— Dodger Dog topped with Pulled Pork available at the smokehouse stand at the Think Blue Barbecue;
— King’s Hawaiian Dog, an all-beef quarter-pound hot dog topped off with a pineapple salsa, served on King’s Hawaiian bread;
— Pastrami Burger, a quarter-pound beef patty on a potato bun topped with hot pastrami, drizzled stone-ground mustard served with Kettle Style home chips and a pickle spear;
— Shock Top Bratwurst, spicy pork bratwurst link infused with Shock Top beer served on a buttered-grilled lobster roll with caramelized onions and spicy brown mustard; and
— Cast Iron Corn Bread and Fried Chicken available at the Stadium Club Bar with limited quantities per day.
Changes to Dodger Stadium include more standing room tables and stools at the top of the park to give all fans an opportunity to take in picturesque Dodger Stadium.
More memorabilia is now on display throughout Dodger Stadium, including added exhibits on the top deck, in the Press Box gallery on the club level and on the field level at the entries near the right and left-field bullpen bars and at the baseline clubs.
Several upgrades to the electrical infrastructure throughout Dodger Stadium were also made, increasing lighting throughout the stadium.
Improvements were also made to guide fans safely through the parking lots and along the routes used when fans take the Dodger Stadium Express to and from the stadium.
New merchandise available includes “Star Wars-” themed pennants, cups and lanyards and a Marvel movie series lanyard. A New Era store is now at Loge Section 150.
A dedicated Uber Zone has been established in Lot 12 for fans to meet their drivers after the game. Fans using Uber to come to Dodger Stadium can be dropped off at any of the five entry gates.
Auto gates and stadium gates will open at 10 a.m. Pregame entertainment will begin 10 a.m., pregame ceremonies at 12:15 p.m., with Kenta Maeda throwing the first pitch at 1:10 p.m.
Live music will be offered throughout the stadium from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The Angel City Dixie Band will play in the left field reserve level, a disc jockey KKRL-FM (92.3) will be in the right field reserve level, DJ AM in the right field plaza, a disc jockey from KIIS-FM (102.7) in the left field plaza and a disc jockey from KBIG-FM (104.3) on the top deck.
The famed Budweiser Clydesdales will make stops around the inner parking circle beginning at 10:30 a.m., continuing throughout the pregame activities.
Sam Harris, lead singer of the alternative rock band X Ambassadors will perform the national anthem.
Representatives of the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force will present the colors. Members of the U.S. armed forces will unfurl a giant flag in center field, a display in the shape of the United States.
The Los Angeles Police Department’s Air Support Division will conduct a formation flight.
The ceremonial first pitch will honor Dodger broadcaster Vin Scully, who is in his unprecedented 67th and final season with the team. Pregame ceremonies will celebrate many of the great moments in Scully’s career.
Retired U.S. Army and U.S. Coast Guard Sgt. Eddie Arambula of Torrance will be honored as the Military Hero of the Game. Arambula joined the U.S. Army in 2002 and in March 2004 was deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom II.
Arambula later joined the U.S. Coast Guard as maritime enforcement specialist. In 2011, he deployed to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.