Last night, the 2013 Major League Baseball season kicked off with all of the ceremonial pomp, circumstance, and hot dogs that one would expect from the National Pastime’s opener.

As part of Opening Day, all of the eyes of baseball were focused firmly on Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas thanks in part to a scheduling matter with ESPN that made the game between the Texas Rangers and the Houston Astros the only one in town.

Even pre game rain, that forced the roof to stay closed, couldn’t dampen the spirits of the over 41,000 fans in attendance.

As is normally the case when the Rangers come to town, the stands were full of supporters for both squads. Unlike in previous years though, where the lack of vocal Astros fans made it seem like a Rangers’ home game, the chants of Let’s go Rangers were enthusiastically drowned out by chants for the Astros.

When the Rangers and Astros took to the field at Minute Maid Park, it was more than a ball game between two in state and in division rivals. It was the continuation of a tradition as old as the game itself.

It marked the beginning of the season where anything is possible and everyone is tied for first place until that final out is tallied.

Before last night I had never watched Opening Day in person. I had attended the first home game of the Astros several times but it was never considered the Opening Night game for the entire league.

Of course aside from being the first game of the year, it was a statistician’s dream as the Astros took the field as an American League team for the first time in their 51-year history.

This fact leads to the inevitable list of firsts that will forever be in the record books.

Let us consider just a few of them.

First pitch by an Astro pitcher in the American League? Thrown by Bud Norris.

First member of the Astros to get an American League hit? Jose Altuve.

First Home run hit by an Astro since the move to the American League? Rick Ankiel. Ankiel also gets bonus points as being the first player to hit a home run in the 2013 season.

First National Anthem Singer? Lyle Lovett.

First ceremonial first pitch? Thrown by J.J. Watt of the Houston Texans.

You get the idea.

If there is a statistic to be tracked, odds are someone, somewhere in the ballpark became the first person to do it since the big move to the American League.

It has been said repeatedly by many experts that this will most likely be another long season for the Astros with the team recording more than 100 losses for the third straight season.

But for at least one night the Astros were the best team in baseball as the only team with a win.

For those keeping score at home, the Astros stunned many in the baseball world with an 8-2 win over the heavily favored neighbors to the north.

Time will tell if the trend continues and the Astros are able to in fact exceed expectations with a winning record this year.

Hollywood is full of stories chronicling the exploits of loveable losers who excel against tough odds and blow past low expectations to reach the highest pinnacle of personal and professional success.

Use sports as your measuring stick for the Hollywood treatment, and you can choose from the Mighty Ducks, the Bad News Bears, and the Cleveland Indians in Major League to name a few.

Time will tell whether the Astros will become the Mighty Bad News ‘Stros and turn doubters into believers by exceeding the low expectations set out for them this season, or if they will be the really bad ‘Stros that are far from mighty that everyone who claims to know baseball thinks they will be.

That in itself is part of the magic of the sport. Each season there are things that happen that no one saw coming when they were writing their preseason previews and looking into their crystal balls.

There will be pitchers that everyone thinks will throw no hitters that won’t and pitchers that seem to come out of nowhere and do.

Batters will rise and fall with no real rhyme or reason.

Teams will deal with injuries that can be the great equalizer.

Hindsight is always 20/20 and there will be those who claim that they saw a particular trend long before anyone else.

As for this season, there are 161 more games before the playoffs start. One game is far too small of a sample size to discern the difference between contender and pretender. But, what no one can take away is that for one night the Houston Astros were the best team in baseball and that is certainly worth tipping a cap to.

The fact that the first game for the Astros as an American League team ended with a fairly convincing win over their bitter in state rival just makes it that much more meaningful.

Now if you’ll excuse me, the Astros victory has inspired me to look into other things with the potential to exceed expectations this year.

Copyright 2013 R Anderson