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Road Kill
2005-05-25 12:20
by Mike Carminati
Go where he will, the wise man is at home,
His hearth the earth,—his hall the azure dome;
Where his clear spirit leads him, there's his road,
By God's own light illumined and foreshadowed.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Poverty at home is not a problem, but poverty on the road can be fatal.
— Ancient Chinese proverb, huh?

The Astros dropped to 2-21 on the road yesterday with a 4-2 loss to the Cubs and may have lost Roger Clemens for some time on top of it. All four Cub runs came in eighth. The tying and winning runs came off closer Brad Lidge.

Strangely, Houston is 13-9 at home. Based on the home record, the 'Stros would be tied for second in the NL Central, but overall are last. The difference between their home and road winning percentages is .504 (.590 at home, .087 on the road).

Here are the worst road records since 1901:

Worst Road RecordsYrWLPCT
Boston Braves19351365.167
Philadelphia Athletics19161364.169
Philadelphia Athletics19451363.171
Washington Senators19091562.195
Washington Senators19041561.197

…And the worst in the expansion era:
Worst Since ExpansionYrWLPCT
New York Mets19631764.210
New York Mets19621862.225
Chicago Cubs19811135.239
Detroit Tigers20032061.247
Baltimore Orioles19882061.247

Now, here are the worst road record for 2005, with the Astros leading the pack:

Worst Since ExpansionYrWLPCT
Houston Astros2005221.087
Colorado Rockies2005319.136
Tampa Bay Devil Rays2005318.143
Kansas City Royals2005615.286

Of course, we are only a quarter of the way into the season, but Houston, Colorado, and Tampa are all on course to break the 1935 Braves' record for road futility

Not only that, the Astros would destroy the worst home-road split (since 1901) by approximately 150 percentage points:
HomebodiesYrH WH LH PCTR WR LR PCTDiff
Philadelphia Athletics19453935.5271363.171.356
Philadelphia Athletics19025617.7672736.429.339
Boston Red Sox19496116.7923542.455.338
Colorado Rockies19965526.6792853.346.333
Minnesota Twins19875625.6912952.358.333
Houston Astros19785031.6172457.296.321
Philadelphia Athletics19084630.6052255.286.320
Chicago White Sox19034128.5941949.279.315
Chicago White Sox19024820.7062640.394.312
Boston Red Sox19525027.6492651.338.312

Remember the '87 Twins and their Metrodome-aided championship? Oddly, last year the Astros home-road split was just .049. That's one whacky club.

By the way, in the 2076 team seasons since 1901, 1728 had better home records than away, 43 had the same home and road records, and 305 had better road than home records.

What was the greatest road-home split, i.e., which team outperformed their home record on the road by the most percentage points? The 1994 Cubs:

Road WarriorsYrH WH LH PCTR WR LR PCTDiff
Chicago Cubs19942039.3392925.537-.198
Pittsburgh Pirates19084235.5455621.727-.182
Kansas City Royals19982951.3634338.531-.168
Brooklyn Dodgers19483641.4684829.623-.156
Philadelphia Athletics19483641.4684829.623-.156
Boston Red Sox19803645.4444732.595-.150
Kansas City Royals19811928.4043125.554-.149
Cincinnati Reds20012754.3333942.481-.148
St. Louis Cardinals19284235.5455324.688-.143
Boston Braves19232255.2863245.416-.130
Chicago White Sox19123443.4424433.571-.130

Did you notice that both the White Sox and the A's made the "Homebodies" list. Do leagues favor the home team more in one team than another? Here are the most lopsided H-R splits overall for a league:

YrLgWLH PCTWLR PCTDiff
1902AL342201.630201342.370.260
1903AL328220.599220328.401.197
1945AL360244.596244360.404.192
1949AL360256.584256360.416.169
1931NL358256.583256358.417.166
1955NL358257.582257358.418.164
1926NL355256.581256355.419.162
1931AL356257.581257356.419.162
1901AL312227.579227312.421.158

There were just 4 years in which a league had an overall road record better than home:

YrLgWLH PCTWLR PCTDiff
1953AL301312.491312301.509-.018
1972NL459470.494470459.506-.012
1917NL304308.497308304.503-.007
1923NL307308.499308307.501-.002

OK, now that we're having fun, just a couple more things. Here are the H-R splits per league per decade and overall. The avg home winning PCT is .541; road, .459. I wonder why the AL was so lopsided favoring the home team in the 1900s—lack of maturity?

DecadeLgWLH PCTWLR PCTDiff
1900sAL29952267.56922672995.431.138
1900sNL28252485.53224852825.468.064
1910sAL32232725.54227253223.458.084
1910sNL31972745.53827453197.462.076
1920sAL33172813.54128133317.459.082
1920sNL33342795.54427953334.456.088
1930sAL33612744.55127443361.449.101
1930sNL33992718.55627183399.444.111
1940sAL33932745.55327453393.447.106
1940sNL32922848.53628483292.464.072
1950sAL32932861.53528613293.465.070
1950sNL33492811.54428113349.456.087
1960sAL43333719.53837194333.462.076
1960sNL42703600.54336004270.457.085
1970sAL54604669.53946695460.461.078
1970sNL51844482.53644825184.464.073
1980sAL59424999.54349995942.457.086
1980sNL50534321.53943215053.461.078
1990sAL57505120.52951025767.469.060
1990sNL58044913.54249315787.460.082
2000sAL30562607.54026113053.461.079
2000sNL34772998.53729943480.462.075
Overall8730773985.5417398587307.459.083

Finally, my friend Mike wondered why the Rockies made the "Homebodies" list just once. They actually came very close a couple of times. Here are their yearly records abd the totals per stadium:

TmYrH WH LH PCTR WR LR PCTDiff
Colorado Rockies19933942.4812853.346.136
Colorado Rockies19942532.4392832.467-.028
Colorado Rockies19954428.6113339.458.153
Colorado Rockies19965526.6792853.346.333
Colorado Rockies19974734.5803645.444.136
Colorado Rockies19984239.5193546.432.086
Colorado Rockies19993942.4813348.407.074
Colorado Rockies20004833.5933447.420.173
Colorado Rockies20014140.5063249.395.111
Colorado Rockies20024734.5802655.321.259
Colorado Rockies20034932.6052556.309.296
Colorado Rockies20043843.4693051.370.099
Overall 514425.547368574.391.157
Mile High (1993-94) 6474.4645685.397.067
Coors (1995-2004) 450351.562312489.390.172

That made me wonder what were the stadiums that caused the greatest home-road difference (min. 5 yrs, ignoring partial years). Coors is second:

ParkFranchiseFirstLastH WH LR WR LH PCTR PCTDiff
Columbia ParkOAK19011908384188255321.671.443.229
Coors FieldCOL19952004450351312489.562.390.172
South Side Park IICHW19011909433236311339.647.478.169
Bennett ParkDET19011911481327375438.595.461.134
American League Park IIMIN19041910223298158379.428.294.134
Pro Player StadiumFLA19992004265218207281.549.424.124
AstrodomeHOU196519991564121012201550.564.440.123
Joe Robbie StadiumFLA19931998232222176276.511.389.122
The Ballpark at ArlingtonTEX19942004479386373478.554.438.115
Sportsman's Park IIIBAL19021908275243214300.531.416.115
Fenway Park IIBOS193420043262230926372924.586.474.111
League Park ICLE19011909385280312352.579.470.109
Comments
2005-06-02 06:34:25
1.   Eric Enders
The 1902 AL home-road splits are that way, particularly Philadelphia's, in part because of the legal issues that kept players who had jumped leagues from entering the state of Pennsylvania. Thus, the 1902 A's never had to face the best player in the league (Nap Lajoie) at their home park.

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