Four months after Opening Day was originally scheduled, the Houston Astros opened a 60-game season Friday with an 8-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners at an empty Minute Maid Park.
The coronavirus pandemic has reduced a 162-game season to a two-month sprint for the postseason with no fans currently allowed in the stands.
For Houston, it's the first game since a report in February confirmed a yearslong cheating scandal in which the club used a center field camera to steal and decode signs—including during its World Series-winning campaign in 2017.
The Astros were fined $5 million, lost first- and second-round picks in the 2020 and 2021 drafts and saw general manager Jeff Luhnow and field manager AJ Hinch suspended for a year.