Houston, Texas - The Astros will have to pack their passports for spring training.

The Astros and Padres are planning exhibition games in Mexico City around Easter weekend (March 27), people familiar with the plans told the Houston Chronicle.

Major League Baseball is focused on expanding the game internationally and plans to open an office in Mexico City in 2016. The planned journey would be a return trip for the Astros, who played the Marlins in a pair of games in Mexico City in 2004. Roger Clemens was the losing pitcher in the first game, a 6-1 Marlins victory, while the second game ended in a nine-inning tie at 2.

Other baseball teams have made the voyage since. The Diamondbacks played in the city of Hermosillo for the 10th time in that franchise's history in 2015, taking on the Rockies near the end of spring training.

"Mexico is a priority of ours in terms of further developing it as a baseball market," MLB's chief legal officer, Dan Halem, said at the general managers' meetings in Florida last month. "Nothing certainly has been planned yet. But I think the commissioner's goal is to be able to play regular season games in both Mexico and in Europe certainly over the next five years. That is another issue that's subject to collective bargaining."

Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow was born and raised in Mexico City. Luhnow in his tenure with the Astros has acquired players from the Mexico City Red Devils, the Mexican League team based in Mexico City. (Neither of those players, Japhet Amador and Leo Heras, made the majors.)

The Astros hosted a Mexican League team, the Veracruz Red Eagles, at Minute Maid Park in 2014 for a pair of exhibition games.

The Astros have to hope they won't exit Mexico City on quite the same note as last time. The hometown fans didn't appreciate the tie score the second game against the Marlins ended with, and threw things on the field.

"Baseball regrets that the fans of Mexico City were disappointed the second game of Serie de Primavera ended in a 2-2 tie and was unable to extend into extra innings," Major League Baseball said. "As is the case in many spring training games, it was decided prior to the start that the game would be limited to nine innings."