There's no place like home
By Rob Neyer
ESPN Insider
I've never seen anything like it. Have you?
# The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are winners (16-14) at home, but they're 4-26 (.133) everywhere else.
# The Houston Astros are winners (16-12) at home, but they're 7-23 (.233) everywhere else.
# The Colorado Rockies are (almost) winners at home (15-16), but they're 4-23 (.148) everywhere else.
How bad are those numbers? Only five teams in the 20th century weren't able to win at least 20 percent of their road games. Those five: the 1935 Boston Braves (13-65, .167 winning percentage), 1916 Philadelphia Athletics (13-64, .169), 1945 Athletics (13-63, .171), 1909 Washington Senators (15-62, .195), and 1904 Senators (15-61, .197).
As you might guess, most absurdly unsuccessful teams were pretty awful wherever they played. Some of them weren't, though. Some of them were, like our three road non-warriors this year, actually quite respectable when playing at home. Those aforementioned '45 Athletics? They were winners in Philadelphia, and in fact, they've got the largest disparity between home and road winning percentages in the last century. Those A's notwithstanding, though, most of the teams with the biggest differences were good teams who played brilliantly at home. Here are the teams who played decently (but no better) at home, but were awful on the road (all data courtesy of Retrosheet):
---Home--- ---Road---
Year Team W L Pct W L Pct
1945 PHI A 39 35 .527 13 63 .171
1949 STL A 36 41 .468 17 60 .221
1930 PHI N 35 42 .455 17 60 .221
1901 MIL A 32 37 .464 16 52 .235
1902 BAL A 32 31 .508 18 57 .240
Two of the teams existed for just a moment: The Milwaukee Brewers became the St. Louis Browns in 1902, their second season; the Baltimore Orioles became the New York Highlanders in 1903, their third. And their moments were so short, at least in part, because they struggled so terribly on the road.
More to the point, it's been more than half a century since any team did, over a whole season, what the Devil Rays, Rockies and Astros have done through roughly one-third of this season. And that's why I don't expect any of them to continue the way they've been going.
If one of them does, though, it'll probably be the Rockies.
In 1996, the Rockies went 57-26 (yowza!) at home, but 28-53 (.346) in the various ballparks close to sea level. In 2002, the Rockies went 47-34 at home, but 26-55 (.321) on the road. In 2003, the Rockies went 49-32 at home, but 25-56 (.309) elsewhere. Since their inception in 1993, the Rockies have won 55 percent of their home games, but lost 62 percent of their road games.
It stands to reason that when the Rockies are generally lousy they'll be particularly lousy on the road. Which is probably the case this season.
You might be interested in the teams, regardless of quality, with the largest difference between their home and road records. Again courtesy of Retrosheet, here are the 10 greatest differentials since 1901:
--- Home --- --- Away ---
Year Team W L Pct W L Pct H-A
1945 PHI A 39 35 .527 13 63 .171 .356
1902 PHI A 56 17 .767 27 36 .429 .339
1949 BOS A 61 16 .792 35 42 .455 .338
1987 MIN A 56 25 .691 29 52 .358 .333
1996 COL N 55 26 .679 28 53 .346 .333
1978 HOU N 50 31 .617 24 57 .296 .321
1908 PHI A 46 30 .605 22 55 .286 .320
1903 CHI A 41 28 .594 19 49 .279 .315
1902 CHI A 48 20 .706 26 40 .394 .312
1952 BOS A 50 27 .649 26 51 .338 .312
Anybody notice a common thread that weaves through that list? Extreme environments. The Red Sox and Rockies both played in extreme hitter's parks, and the Astros and White Sox both played in extreme pitcher's parks. You've also got the '87 Twins, who benefited from the Metrodome; remember, that's the team that squeaked into the playoffs, then won the World Series after losing all their postseason road games but winning all their postseason home games.
So you don't have to play well on the road to wind up with a successful season. If I were the Devil Rays, though, I wouldn't start printing World Series tickets just yet.
Senior writer Rob Neyer writes for Insider two or three times per week during the season. To offer criticism, praise or anything in between, send an e-mail to rob.neyer@dig.com.
By Rob Neyer
ESPN Insider
I've never seen anything like it. Have you?
# The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are winners (16-14) at home, but they're 4-26 (.133) everywhere else.
# The Houston Astros are winners (16-12) at home, but they're 7-23 (.233) everywhere else.
# The Colorado Rockies are (almost) winners at home (15-16), but they're 4-23 (.148) everywhere else.
How bad are those numbers? Only five teams in the 20th century weren't able to win at least 20 percent of their road games. Those five: the 1935 Boston Braves (13-65, .167 winning percentage), 1916 Philadelphia Athletics (13-64, .169), 1945 Athletics (13-63, .171), 1909 Washington Senators (15-62, .195), and 1904 Senators (15-61, .197).
As you might guess, most absurdly unsuccessful teams were pretty awful wherever they played. Some of them weren't, though. Some of them were, like our three road non-warriors this year, actually quite respectable when playing at home. Those aforementioned '45 Athletics? They were winners in Philadelphia, and in fact, they've got the largest disparity between home and road winning percentages in the last century. Those A's notwithstanding, though, most of the teams with the biggest differences were good teams who played brilliantly at home. Here are the teams who played decently (but no better) at home, but were awful on the road (all data courtesy of Retrosheet):
---Home--- ---Road---
Year Team W L Pct W L Pct
1945 PHI A 39 35 .527 13 63 .171
1949 STL A 36 41 .468 17 60 .221
1930 PHI N 35 42 .455 17 60 .221
1901 MIL A 32 37 .464 16 52 .235
1902 BAL A 32 31 .508 18 57 .240
Two of the teams existed for just a moment: The Milwaukee Brewers became the St. Louis Browns in 1902, their second season; the Baltimore Orioles became the New York Highlanders in 1903, their third. And their moments were so short, at least in part, because they struggled so terribly on the road.
More to the point, it's been more than half a century since any team did, over a whole season, what the Devil Rays, Rockies and Astros have done through roughly one-third of this season. And that's why I don't expect any of them to continue the way they've been going.
If one of them does, though, it'll probably be the Rockies.
In 1996, the Rockies went 57-26 (yowza!) at home, but 28-53 (.346) in the various ballparks close to sea level. In 2002, the Rockies went 47-34 at home, but 26-55 (.321) on the road. In 2003, the Rockies went 49-32 at home, but 25-56 (.309) elsewhere. Since their inception in 1993, the Rockies have won 55 percent of their home games, but lost 62 percent of their road games.
It stands to reason that when the Rockies are generally lousy they'll be particularly lousy on the road. Which is probably the case this season.
You might be interested in the teams, regardless of quality, with the largest difference between their home and road records. Again courtesy of Retrosheet, here are the 10 greatest differentials since 1901:
--- Home --- --- Away ---
Year Team W L Pct W L Pct H-A
1945 PHI A 39 35 .527 13 63 .171 .356
1902 PHI A 56 17 .767 27 36 .429 .339
1949 BOS A 61 16 .792 35 42 .455 .338
1987 MIN A 56 25 .691 29 52 .358 .333
1996 COL N 55 26 .679 28 53 .346 .333
1978 HOU N 50 31 .617 24 57 .296 .321
1908 PHI A 46 30 .605 22 55 .286 .320
1903 CHI A 41 28 .594 19 49 .279 .315
1902 CHI A 48 20 .706 26 40 .394 .312
1952 BOS A 50 27 .649 26 51 .338 .312
Anybody notice a common thread that weaves through that list? Extreme environments. The Red Sox and Rockies both played in extreme hitter's parks, and the Astros and White Sox both played in extreme pitcher's parks. You've also got the '87 Twins, who benefited from the Metrodome; remember, that's the team that squeaked into the playoffs, then won the World Series after losing all their postseason road games but winning all their postseason home games.
So you don't have to play well on the road to wind up with a successful season. If I were the Devil Rays, though, I wouldn't start printing World Series tickets just yet.
Senior writer Rob Neyer writes for Insider two or three times per week during the season. To offer criticism, praise or anything in between, send an e-mail to rob.neyer@dig.com.
