It was everything a long-suffering Washington fan could have dreamed of. Baseball wasn’t just back in town, this plucky new team was careening toward the city’s first pennant race since 1945.

Jamey Carroll, Chad Cordero, John Patterson, Brian Schneider and Ryan Zimmerman were inaugural members of a Major League club that had just been relocated to Washington, D.C. Time has quickly passed.

WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — Thursday’s Opening Day festivities at Nationals Park signified the start of another season of baseball in the District, and fans couldn’t have been more excited.