One of the many problems that is pointed out about the baseball park that for at least the next five minutes is known as LandShark Stadium is that it actually is not really a baseball park. A football team known as the Miami Dolphins has tromped all over the playing field for the latter part of every season of the Marlins' existence, and for the last two years the U. of M. Hurricanes has done even more of the same.
The question explored here is what effect, if any, this shared arrangement has had on the win/loss records of everyone involved. To examine this, we'll be using historical data from Baseball-Reference.com, and for the Dolphins from Phins.com, whose records thankfully include the pre-seasons. We'll go back through every season up to 1995, since the strike of 1994 truncated the dual-use part of the season early, and the Phins.com stats don't go back to '93.
First, does the first pre-season football home game mess up the first home Marlins game that follows it? This game can be as soon as the next day after (as in 2002) or as late as ten days later (as in 2004). The record shows that from 1995 on the Marlins have a 6-9 record in the first home baseball game after the first home pre-season football game, although in the last eight years they have evened it up to 4-4.
One would think that baseball games scheduled to be played the day after a football game would be affected by a more roughed-up condition of the field. The record shows that, so far, that negative effect is being suffered mostly by visiting teams. Since 1995 the Marlins are 8-4 in home games played on the day after a football game. It's reversed though when the Marlins start a home series 2 days after the ravages of football, as the Marlins in that situation have a 3-6 win/loss record.
Adding it all together, from 1995 to 2009 the Marlins have (by our count) a 464-409 win/loss record (.532 win percentage) in home games played before the first pre-season home football game, and a 192-151 record (.560 win percentage) in home games played afterwards (including post-season games, in which the Marlins have an 11-6 home record, which if taken away still leaves the Marlins with a .555 win percentage during football).
If you think that we will now be giving up a natural advantage once the team moves to the new digs and away from football, it should be noted that so far in the Fredi Gonzalez era the Fish sport a .522 home win percentage before football starts (94-86) but only .476 during football (30-33). (Maybe this is why Jeffrey was so ready to eject Fredi last season.)
Now how did the Dolphins do, playing off and on the dirt of the diamond? The Dolphins usually play only 1-3 regular-season games a year on baseball dirt, but I would've guessed there would still be an effect. There may be, but there appears to be a dividing line between two different eras. From 1995 to 2002 the Dolphins went 16-0 (!) in home games played during baseball (after baseball ended they were 30-18), but from 2003 to the present their win/loss record on the sandy infield is at 4-7 (after baseball 22-20). The Fins haven't won a game on top of the diamond that counts in the standings since 2006.
And just to finish it up, the Hurricanes have won both games that they have played on the baseball field.
2 comments:
it's versus.
Unless you're talking about poetry, it's versus. If that's too many key strokes, you can use 'vs.'
You're right - maybe it is poetry. :-)
Post a Comment