Astros Opening Day: Big changes on the field as team kicks off 2025 season against the Mets
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Opening Day is here, and Houston Astros fans are counting down to the first game of the season against the New York Mets on Thursday.
A new era has begun for the 'Stros. There are new faces, new merchandise, and a whole new name for the ballpark, now known as Daikin Park.
Astros Opening Day Street Fest begins at noon outside Daikin Park, hours before the first pitch. Fans will need a game ticket to get in.
The team on the field will also look very different. Jose Altuve has played his entire career at second base, but he's playing left field this year.
Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker are both gone. In exchange for Tucker, who the team traded this off-season, they got 22-year-old Cam Smith to play right field. He was playing college baseball this time last year.
READ MORE: Astros' No. 1 prospect Cam Smith learned he'd made Opening Day roster in the best way: from his mom
For fans heading to the game, pregame ceremonies will honor the 25th anniversary of the ballpark.
Larry Dierker, the Astros manager when they moved there in 2000, will throw out the first pitch.
They'll also reintroduce the train, which once contained oranges. That era is over, so ABC13 asked what will be in it now.
"All I can say is it's new branding. It's the Philips 66 train, but it will be a different-looking train," Gene Dias, VP of communications for Astros, told ABC13. "The unveiling will happen in their pregame ceremony. Always a special day, more so than the other sports, Opening Day is almost like a holiday."
There are games from Thursday through Saturday. So, if you're headed downtown, expect street closures around the ballpark.
The closures will be along Texas Avenue, Crawford, Congress, Hamilton, and Preston. Parts of Avenidas de Las Americas will also be closed post-game.
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