How come its so hard to win on the road?

Question

Some of the best teams in baseball are terrible on the road (rays, red sox, white sox, cubs) Its not as if the mound is any further or closer and its not like the ball is any smaller or bigger. Plus with the cubs and red sox they usually get more fans away from home than the opposing team does.

Answer 1

It rarely happens when the road team has more fans at a game that the home team, unless it is the late innings of a blowout. But the fans are pretty uplifting if they're on your side. Of course, if you have someone cool and calm with no emotions (like Smoltz or that type of pitcher), the fans won't get to them. Sometimes it's just a coincidence.

Answer 2

Its just the crowed really gets in it more making it difficult. Some people don't like the grass or the turf. Or the infield dirt. Or the pitchers don't like the mound. Everyone use to their home field so it makes it different and more difficult.

Answer 3

You have

ALL THOSE

FANS

CHEERING

AGAINST YOU

DONT YOU

THINK THAT

MAKES

IT HARD

Answer 4

One overlooked aspect is travel. Travelling from city to city every 10 to 15 days can get old real quick I would imagine. Tighter security in overcrowded airports, crappy hotels, jet lag from time-zone changes, continuously packing and unpacking...not the most glamorous lifestyle.

Now imagine if you're a professional tennis player. There is no "home-field advantage" unless you happen to live in a city that hosts a tournament. And then you only play there once in a season. All other games are road games. We are also talking about world travel as opposed to jetting back and forth across America.

Teams that have good road records probably have a special formula for keeping the drudgery of travel from being over-burdensome. To stay positive and focused, day-in and day-out in MLB is no easy feat.

Answer 5

1) Park dimensions. There are very few rules about some of the basic structures of a ball park, such as the outfield and the pitcher's mound stretch. Road pitchers are not always used to the new mound and can't get the push off it they are used to. Also think of the outfield at Fenway versus the outfield anywhere else. It's one of the weirdest outfields in the league, Sox players are trained to deal with it.

2) Traveling every 3 days can shake someone up. It's the major reason why there are more days off during the playoffs.

Answer 6

One may better ask why it's easier to win at home -- familiar playing environment (and if the GM is on the ball, a roster optimized to take advantage of its quirks), home cookin' and your own bed, the strategic advantage of batting in the bottom half, and so on.

Winning at home is the same as losing on the road, just from the other perspective.