Comments on: Sunny days favor the pitchers

By: cktai

cktai — Wed, 04 May 2011 19:00:19 +0000

for* a course

By: cktai

cktai — Wed, 04 May 2011 18:59:57 +0000

I once wrote an essay on the reception of sabermetrics by the general audience of a course on Science and the Public. I even quoted you Craig

By: APBA Guy

APBA Guy — Wed, 04 May 2011 16:28:48 +0000

One of the things you have to allow for in studies like this is practice, ie, players play at night mostly now, and they are used to those conditions moreso than daylight. So the contributions of the daylight effects may be overstated unless you can standardize the groups into roughly equal “daylight” and “nightime” habituated players. Otherwise, some of the effect may be learning curve as about 70% of games played are night games, and players, even professionals, relearn/readjust playing in the sun.

Anyway, the A’s like to schedule Gio during day games. For some reason, mainly because he says he likes it, he seems to do better in the daytime. And napping at an empty stadium is certainly more pleasant in the mid-afternoon sun.

By: halladaysbicepts

halladaysbicepts — Wed, 04 May 2011 16:03:38 +0000

bicepts – 2 ideas per day…LOL!!!!!!

By: spudchukar

spudchukar — Wed, 04 May 2011 15:52:34 +0000

I have seen similar stats before, but they baffle me. Unlike bicepts(which I assume means capability of having 2 ideas per diem), I always preferred the daylight. El Sol, certainly produces a more vivid viewing environment, than its aped electronic counterpart, so why the difference. It seems counter-intuitive. How do flyballs lost in the sun help pitchers? Why is there so much emphasis on the proverbial creeping late afternoon shadows? Maybe it has something to do with warmer air.

And yes, day baseball is probably best, but the night has a splendor of its own. I am glad we have both.

By: bigxrob

bigxrob — Wed, 04 May 2011 15:43:35 +0000

And to continue my thought, is it directly related the the games being played at night or other factors, such as expansion?

By: bigxrob

bigxrob — Wed, 04 May 2011 15:39:53 +0000

So, if that is the case, was there a statistically significant increase in batting averages as baseball transformed from a daytime only game to a mostly night time game in the middle of the last century?

By: Chris Fiorentino

Chris Fiorentino — Wed, 04 May 2011 15:31:52 +0000

Considering the Phillies are already 10-0 this year in day games, this guy may have a point.

By: halladaysbicepts

halladaysbicepts — Wed, 04 May 2011 15:14:13 +0000

When I was a kid playing baseball, I always hated hitting when the sun was out. It’s harder to see the ball when sun glare gets in your eyes. Same goes for playing in the field. This study makes perfect sense. No surprise here.

That being said, day games are always the best to watch in person at the ballpark.

By: Jonny 5

Jonny 5 — Wed, 04 May 2011 15:09:47 +0000

That’s funny because for his career (before 2011) Cole Hamels has like an additional + 1. something era for day games over night appearances. So I guess it effects people differently. I always figured it was people seeing his delivery better or something… I dunno. Interesting.