As charter members of the Southern League, the Nashville Americans played their regular season home opener on May 4 against the Columbus Stars. In the top of the first, Nashville's Joe Werrick hit a two-RBI triple scoring James Hillery and John Cullen, but these were to be their only runs of the game. Tied 2–2 in the fifth, a bad throw allowed Columbus' Joe Strauss to score the winning run for the visitors. Alex Voss pitched well in the 3–2 Nashville loss, allowing only three runs on five hits and striking out four, but opposing pitcher Doc Landis held the Americans to just two runs on five hits. Errors, five by Nashville and four by Columbus, hampered both teams as none of the game's five runs were earned. The Americans won their first league home game three games later against the Birmingham Coal Barons, 12–5, on May 9. Hillery led Nashville's offence that day with a single, a double, two triples, and three runs scored. On May 30, Toad Ramsey of the visiting Chattanooga Lookouts pitched a no-hitter against Nashville in a game where only three locals reached base, two via walks and one on an error. The Americans played another season in 1886 and were followed by the Southern League's Nashville Blues in 1887.