Baseball teams have considerable advantages playing at home:
- Home team players may be likely to get better rest, sleeping in their own beds, rather than traveling and sleeping in a hotel
- The team is beneficiary of fan support
- Since ballparks are different, the team can be tailored to take advantage of idiosyncrancies of the home field
- The home team gets the final at-bat
But, do these advantages really translate into additional victories at home?
Using Major League Baseball statistics for the 2011 season, as of September 5, the answer is yes, although the amount of the advantage might be less than one would think.
Home Team Winning Percentage
For both the American and National League combined, the home team won 1,119 and lost 997, a 52.9 percent winning percentage. To put it into perspective, that 53% would result in 86 wins, a record that would result in also ran status in most every division every year.
The spread is a little higher in the American League at 53.6%, but even lower in the National. From a sample of more than 1,000 games, the home team carried the day at a 52.2% clip in the senior circuit, barely enough to win 84 games over a full season. Since breakeven would be 81 games, this means that the factors above result in a difference of three extra wins over a full season.
Individual Team Records at Home
As would be expected when looking at averages, some teams do better than the league totals. A few teams stand out as much better at home than their overall record (and therefore must have a worse road record).
(Team, home winning percentage, overall winning percentage)
Baltimore Orioles, .525, .396
Oakland A’s, .551, .454
Washington Nationals, 565, .468
Milwaukee Brewers, .724, .599
Three of these teams are clearly second division teams, possibly indicating a good job of building an otherwise poor team to take advantage of the home park, or maybe a lackluster job of preparing the team to play on the road. Milwaukee has the highest home winning percentage of any team, but has a losing record on the road.
Losing in Front of the Home Fans
Only two teams have a substantially worse record at home than on the road. Despite a large payroll, the New York Mets play more poorly at home than on the road, and expected contenders the Chicago White Sox might be in contention if they could match their fine road record (7 games over .500) instead of carrying a losing record at home.
Fans may believe cheering has an impact on the home team’s chances, but the game is played between the lines. The bases are always 90 feet apart, and the visiting team has nearly as good a chance to win every game as the home team.
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