How Will Cold Weather Affect World Series?
If you’ve stepped outside recently — and you don’t live in a place like Southern California, Texas or Florida — you may have noticed it’s the fall, and temperatures are colder than they were during the summer and the baseball regular season. As for me, I’ve been inside since last winter; I’ve forgotten what the sun looks like, and what wind feels like ripping off the lake. (SOMEONE PLEASE COME UNLOCK MY BEDROOM DOOR.)
Anyway, yes: since the World Series is going to run into November this year — stupid World Baseball Classic — how is this going to affect the players? The game? Little Timmy sitting with his father at Yankee Stadium? And how does cold weather affect baseball in general?
We turn to Clay Davenport of Baseball Prosecptus ($) for the answers:
In some ways, cool weather helps the pitcher. The air gets denser when it gets colder; denser air means more drag on the baseball, giving fly balls less carry and curveballs more bite. Home runs drop by 17 percent in games in which the temperature is less than 60 degrees; instant runs turn into fly-ball outs. On the down side, the temperature affects hands. Pitchers lose control (issuing 15 percent more walks in cold games), and fielders commit more errors. The net result on runs per nine innings is that they stay almost the same. But there’s more to weather than temperature.
So yeah, there are advantages (and disadvantages) to both the offense and defense in cold weather. But Davenport also notes there should be a stiff breeze blowing in from left during Game 1, Game 2, Game 4, Game 5 and possibly Game 3.
Does that mean mighty Alex Rodriguez won’t continue to hit home runs at an alarming rate? Maybe. But he won’t be the only one having trouble knocking the ball out of the park.
Subscribe to our RSS feed.
Follow us on Twitter.
Add New Comment
Viewing 3 Comments
Thanks. Your comment is awaiting approval by a moderator.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Add New Comment