What is home field advantage?

[ChiTownTrojan]

All the talk about playoff seeding got me thinking - what is it about home field advantage that gives the home team the edge? Thinking about this, I could think of 3 ways that being the home team could impact a game:

(1) having your fans in the stands cheering you on brings out better performance
(2) being able to sleep in your own bed and have your own routine gives you an edge compared to the team that has to travel/stay in hotels
(3) batting last gives the home team an advantage because they basically know the game situation a half inning earlier and can game plan around it.
(4) prior to 2020, the DH rules in interleague play could favor the home team because the AL teams are more likely to have a roster spot reserved for a DH

Of these, (3) and (4) are the "tangible" reasons in that the actual game play/rules are different. The 2020 environment eliminates (1) and (4), and it will be interesting to see when it's all over what sort of home field advantage is left for this year compared to past years.

A google search pulled up this article, which is almost a month old, indicating that home field advantage has almost disappeared in 2020: https://www.mlb.com/news/home-field-...peared-in-2020. I'm curious what the updated numbers look like, does anyone know how to get those? The article cites a Fangraphs article from a few years ago that found that up to 70% of home field advantage was actually due to different strike zones for home/away teams. Presumably this is a related to (1), umpires are human after all so they might be playing a bit to the crowd (I keep getting the image of Frank Drebin in The Naked Gun).

[Dumpjerry]

The Tribe was no hit for 7.2 innings last night at their park. Would that have happened with a house full of fans? Probably not, but we will never know.

[jcw218]

Part of the home field advantage is knowing your park. You play half of your games there during the season. You become familiar with how the ball bounces off the walls in the corner or if they bounce at all. There's something about being able to sleep in your own bed etc.

[TDog]

Part of the home field advantage is knowing your park. You play half of your games there during the season. You become familiar with how the ball bounces off the walls in the corner or if they bounce at all. There's something about being able to sleep in your own bed etc.

True. Ernie Banks talked about the "friendly confines." He and his team were more comfortable in Wrigley Field, and he loved playing everywhere. Banks even tried to sing the Canadian national anthem in French when the Cubs played in Montreal. But those were the days when all the Wrigley games were day games. You got up in the morning, went to work and came home for dinner. Some blamed the daytime heat for the Cubs' tendency to collapse, though.

With players more sheltered this year -- that is an assumption on my part -- it's possible playing at home isn't as comfortable this summer. Players are basically staying at home, which for a few players is a hotel anyway. Likely more players are missing their families at home and on the road. With no fans in the stands, it probably doesn't feel the same. The seven-inning doubleheaders and the ridiculous extra-inning rules probably make the games feel less big-league. There isn't a big difference in the playing field of a lot of parks. You don't have many of the Fenway extremes. As long as the home team continues to bat last, and they don't start beginning the game with a coin flip, at least there is that, but it only matters in close games.

[HomeFish]

It could be that the 2020 season is a small sample size and you can't conclude anything from it.

I.e., we might still not know despite the appearance of a natural experiment.

[TDog]

It could be that the 2020 season is a small sample size and you can't conclude anything from it.

I.e., we might still not know despite the appearance of a natural experiment.

Or perhaps people are so fixated on interpreting statistical analysis that the art of observation is lost on them.

Obviously, if you're not doing the heavy coast-to-coast travel, if your road trips don't take you as far from home, if heath concerns have placed unique parameters on your home life and restricted or changed your usual at-home social norms, if you're not playing in front of big partisan crowds, if your home ballpark has similar dimensions to other ballparks and unique characteristics are few and sometimes don't come into play, you don't need statistical analysis to determine that home-field advantage is less important.

Just as there are right-handed hitters who hit righties better than southpaws, regardless of the global percentages, home-field advantage doesn't mean teams that are overmatched, undermanned or even purposely losing to get a better draft pick, something that's sadly all the rage, is going to affect wins and losses. Off the top of my head, I recall the 1970 White Sox only beat the A's twice out of 18 games, and both of those wins came in Oakland.

[HomeFish]

I mean, look at the 2019 World Series to see what can happen in a small sample size.

[voodoochile]

Being able to sleep at home instead of at a hotel.

Having full access to all the practice facilities you like and know best.

Knowing the hitting background.

I think it means different things, and obviously no fan noise this year, but certainly playing at home is more comfortable and less stressful.