A bit bizarre that the A's have the best home record in our division (11-9). In fact, every team in our division has a better away record than home record, except the A's. Our division is the only one with this distinction.
This seems to be oddly becoming more common in general. 3 of this year's 4 NBA finalists (everyone except Cleveland), had pretty similar home/away records. The Warriors, who used to be unbeatable at home, were 29-12 both at home and on the road. Of last year's MLB playoff teams, 4 (Astros, Indians, Twins, Nationals) had better road records than home, and 2 other playoff teams were pretty even.
Statistical anomalies are pretty normal, sure. But not all of them are worthless. Some are revealing. Maybe its as simple as our guys party out of their minds at home and stay in their hotel rooms on the road. Maybe the stress of repeating hits home literally.
There was a study a few years back that most of homefield advantage in various sports was not due to players playing better, but due to refs. Refs felt pressure from home crowds to make favorable calls for the home fans - so basketball players might get more fouls, baseball players might get slightly favorable strikezones, etc. It's possible that new technology (K-Zone) and the public accountability of officiating (NBA last-minute reports, 24/7 media) might have reduced that and eliminated much of home field advantage effect. http://freakonomics.com/2011/12/18/...advantageous-is-home-field-advantage-and-why/ Snippet: When athletes are at home, they don’t seem to hit or pitch better in baseball … or pass better in football. The crowd doesn’t appear to be helping the home team or harming the visitors. We checked “the vicissitudes of travel” off the list. And although scheduling bias against the road team explains some of the home-field advantage, particularly in college sports, it’s irrelevant in many sports. So if these popular explanations don’t have much explanatory power for home-field advantage, what does? In a word: the refs. Moskowitz and Wertheim found that home teams essentially get slightly preferential treatment from the officials, whether it’s a called third strike in baseball or, in soccer, a foul that results in a penalty kick. (It’s worth noting that a soccer referee has more latitude to influence a game’s outcome than officials in other sports, which helps explain why the home-field advantage is greater in soccer, around the world, than in any other pro sport.)
We could be more aggressive, but it might come at the cost of striking out more also. Pick your poison.
Interesting graph from another 538 article, in particular with the NBA but also a slow trend in baseball. ( https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/home-field-advantage-english-premier-league/ ) It's from 4 years ago - pure speculation, but I suspect these trends have accelerated in recent years with technology.
Missed the game last night, but saw Hamels hit a couple of our better players. Was he beaning them, or just lack of control? Seeing that he pitched a one hitter, I would guess it wasn't due to a lack of control.
Not sure about McCann's regular season, but his playoff production was night-and-day better at home than road.
Bregman getting hit was questionable. Umpire said it hit his foot. No conclusive evidence that it didn't. Springer was an inside fastball that got away. EDIT - just rewatched the Bregman HBP. It barely...barely....barely....clipped his pant leg. Literally....barely.
Isn’t this just coinciding with every leagues increased emphasis on parity? From salary caps to draft lotteries to revenue sharing, there is less competitive imbalance between small market teams and big market teams, in all sports, than ever before.
It seems it happens more often against these aholes but then again maybe it’s just my bias. Was Hamels even apologetic? Afterwards Blum said because it’s Springer you could assume the worse.https://syndication.bleacherreport....-elbow-injury-diagnosed-as-contusion.amp.html
Problem is don't know which ones are and aren't revealing. As such, smart teams ignore most split anomalies as most split anomalies usually don't predict future well. Hinch said yesterday before game he doesn't care home/road splits after 40 games.
Historically it was the opposite: they'd be good boys around their families and would turn into maniacs on the road.
