Home Field Advantage?

Looking at the numbers with all teams but 2 there is a better record at home than away. At least one exception I think proves the rule, Phillies are .500 at home and .632 away (that just goes to prove nobody likes playing in Philly not even the Phillies.) The biggest differentials between Home and Away percentages are: Detroit with a .263 difference, San Fran .248, TB .235, Bos .214, Pit, .206, Cubs .203 (just because they are used to peeing in big troughs). Phillies are -.127 difference and AZ is -.050 as the exceptions. My question is why? The obvious and simple answer is an intangible 'being pumped up for the home crowd'. But, that definitely doesn't explain Phillies relative troubles at home. Is it a park thing, the team is built to that specific park's quirks. Like having a team that tends to pop high into left, which = HR over Boston's Green Monster but not in other parks. Why is is also that the ALE teams all have a percentage difference over .118 where no other division has more than 2 teams over that same percentage difference in favor of home. Are ALE teams just lazy on the road? Anyways, I do not have the math or time to really adequately answer these questions but I would like to hear at least some theories. It does seem the Angels and Marlins would be the most professional if it is a simple explanation of being pumped up for the home crowd..professionals should be equally pumped for every game Angels are a mere .015 game diff.

over 2 years ago ADMDrayson 2 comments 0 recs |

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Cubs

can be explained by their execrable outfielders being more used to the ivy than any other park.

But seriously, I’d look to pressure on pitching staffs. We’re lucky to have two mentally tough guys anchoring our rotation. If you add in pitchers with shaky mental games plus hostile/pressure-filled crowds, I wouldn’t discount it. I’m more skeptical applying that to the hitters, even if it seems plausible… hitters are just prone to too many kinds of streaks and unluckiness.

"It was like two ankles." AVENGE BOOG
"But listen, and understand: more Molinas are out there. They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They don't feel pity, or remorse, or fear." - THT

by Yadi2Second on Aug 11, 2009 4:23 PM EDT reply actions

Philly

The answer here lies in their pitching staff.

If you look at Fangraphs pitching stats, you can see that nearly all of the Phillies pitchers give up quite a few fly balls, and that quite a few of those fly balls go out of the yard, and that a lot more of those homers (21 more in total so far in ’09) happen at home

If you look at the sOPS at home, they’re pitchers are 20 points worse at home than on the road, with the HR/FB leading to a good chunk of that I would guess, considering the BABIP difference isn’t nearly enough to offset it. Cliff Lee will probably help this somewhat, but he hasn’t been an extreme ground ball pitcher in his career either, so he’s liable to be hurt by the same thing as the rest of the Philly pitchers by moving out of the Jake in Cleveland.

"I just wish that the late Harry Caray were still around so I could hear him mispronounce 'Kosuke Fukudome' every fukun' night" -- Dennis Miller

by fourstick on Aug 12, 2009 12:56 PM EDT reply actions