The Houston Astros led their city to National League Wild Card victories in 2004 and 2005 and continued on to the World Series after becoming 2005 National League Champions. A stellar lineup of ballplayers fills the stands at Minute Maid Park.

Minute Maid Park, completed in 2000, is the Houston Astros’s downtown home. Minute Maid Park's retractable roof technology brought open-air baseball to Houston for the first time in 35 years, and the natural grass surface and classic architecture provided Minute Maid Park the atmosphere of the great ballparks of baseball's Golden age.

On October 17, 1960, Houston was awarded a franchise in the ten-team National League. The Houston Colt .45s played their first major league game on April 10, 1962, defeating the Chicago Cubs 11-2. In 1965, The Houston Colt .45s became the Houston Astros and inaugurated indoor baseball with a 2-1 exhibition win over the New York Yankees on April 9 in the Astrodome. The Astros played their first game at Minute Maid Park, then Enron Field, on March 30, 2000.