On the Road Again

by SuperContext on Jun 10, 2008 12:31 PM CDT

Interesting article by Jayson Stark today on the reason for such a huge home-road disparity so far this year in major league baseball. He discusses a number of possible factors, but I tend to agree most with the conclusion that it is simply a fluke. I seriously doubt that the disparity will persist (at least not as strikingly as it currently is) up to the last day of the season.

My only real quibble with the article is that it gives short shrift (just a bullet-point mention) to the one theory that may be the real culprit - the horrible scheduling this year. It just stands to reason that when a computer-generated schedule has a team criss-crossing the country without rhyme or reason it is going to take a toll, as we saw earlier this year with some of the Cubs zany road trips. Another possibility is that some of baseball's better teams have simply, by chance, played more home games, but I haven't run the numbers on that to see if the theory pans out.

I'm interested to see what others here think is the cause of this unusual league-wide split.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of SB Nation or Al Yellon, managing editor (unless it's a FanPost posted by Al). FanPost opinions are valued expressions of opinion by passionate and knowledgeable baseball fans.

Tweet Comment 4 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

I'm going to leave this post...

... even though it’s on the same topic as the one above it, because it addresses the issue of scheduling. MLB has GOT to change this—the computer simply does NOT do as good a job as the two college professors who used to do it by hand on their kitchen table.

Sometimes automation is NOT the answer.

"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx

by Al Yellon on Jun 10, 2008 1:25 PM CDT reply actions

Thanks Al

I really don’t know if the scheduling is why we’re seeing such a home-road split this year - it would likely take an in-depth analysis I just don’t have the time to perform right now to figure out - but it seems as good an explanation as any at this point.

by SuperContext on Jun 10, 2008 2:32 PM CDT up reply actions

I think it's a big part of it.

The example I like to give is this: from April 22-May 9 the Cubs went from Chicago to Denver to Washington to Chicago to St. Louis to Cincinnati to Chicago.

Ridiculous.

The current streak isn’t much better. From June 8-20 they go from Los Angeles to Chicago to Toronto to Cooperstown to Tampa to Chicago.

"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx

by Al Yellon on Jun 10, 2008 3:11 PM CDT up reply actions

Automation doesnt work unless

you understand what it is you are automating down to the tiniest degree and every possibility. Evev the two college professors who did it by hand may not have known the process well enough to have it automated. For them some things may have just made sense, which can’t really be codified.

"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope."

by californiachicagoan on Jun 11, 2008 1:55 PM CDT up reply actions