The Joliet Slammers are getting ready for a home opener on Friday that will feature the great American pastime, a new menu of Mexican food at the ballpark and a team from Canada on the field.

Game time is 6:35 p.m. as the Slammers face the Ottawa Titans, which is from Ottawa, Canada, not Ottawa, Illinois.

The city-owned stadium that is home to the Slammers now is named Duly Health and Care Field following a corporate rebranding of the stadium naming rights sponsor formerly known as DuPage Medical Group.

“Anything at the stadium that said DuPage Medical Group is getting re-signed to Duly,” Lauren Baca, marketing director for the Slammers, said as she provided a tour around the stadium this week.

The Slammers were still getting the stadium ready for the new season, which will include at least four new Joliet vendors selling tacos, cake, popcorn and beer to fans.

The tacos and other Mexican street food will come from the Sunshine Mexican Cafe, which is located in downtown Joliet at 406 N. Scott St., not far from the stadium.

Jessi Garcia, who runs Sunshine Mexican Cafe with her husband Ruben Rodriguez, said it was “a coincidence” that their restaurant landed a concession contract with the Slammers.

“We just acquired a food truck,” Garcia said. “I was driving by the stadium, and I thought maybe we could park the truck here during games.”

Garcia emailed the Slammers, who happened to be looking for a taco vendor inside the stadium.

“They said, ‘Fans have been asking for tacos for more than six years. Let’s do it,’” Garcia said.

Other Joliet businesses new at Slammers games this year will be POPUS Gourmet Popcorn and Smallcakes Cupcakery and Creamery. MyGrain Brewing Company, which has a brewpub just a short walk from the stadium at the old Union Station, will be back with its Joliet-made beer.

Baca said the Slammers are close to signing up one more local vendor to be named later if the deal is completed.

The new concessions will be the biggest change in stadium amenities.

The Slammers are changing the names of concession stands to reflect the local focus.

“We’re getting brand new concession signs that should be coming Thursday,” Baca said at the stadium on Tuesday.

Slammers staff was busy this week getting things ready for opening day.

John Wilson, executive vice president of baseball operations and chief revenue officer, was helping put up new signs on the outfield fence for team sponsors on Tuesday.

Wilson took a break to comment on a team that he said is as deep in talent as any the Slammers have had since their Frontier League championship season in 2018.

“We have some really talented pitchers and position players,” Wilson said. “I think being a Major League Baseball partner league has been a huge plus for us.”

The Frontier League has become an MLB partner league, which Wilson said attracts more talent because players have better chances of moving up. They are also other advantages for the Slammers.

One of those new this year is access to Yakkertech technology, which tracks such things as spin rotation and exit velocity for pitchers. Slammers’ players are better able to compare themselves to the innumerable measurements of performance that have become the norm of baseball.

But the statistics that may matter most with the home opener around the corner are those in the weather forecast as a cold and dreary May has suddenly turned into a summer-like heat wave.

“It’s going to be a large crowd,” Baca said of ticket sales for the home opener. “Also, with the beautiful weather we’re having this week, it’s growing. It’s growing every day. People are excited to come out for baseball.”