Sunday, November 13, 2011

Happy Changes Vs. Results

Since the start of the 162-game-per-season era in 1961, it seems there has been only one other MLB team that at the same time both officially changed its name and moved to a new ballpark while remaining in the same market. That was the team in Houston, who ended the 1964 season as the Colt 45's playing in Colt Stadium, and began 1965 as the Astros in the Astrodome.

So did those changes create some improvement in the Houston win-loss record from '64 to '65? No. In 1964 the Colt 45s finished the year at 66-96, while the next year the Astros almost matched the previous year with a record of 65-97. But in just the home games, Houston, playing in barn-like, mosquito-and-rattlesnake-infested Colt Stadium, was able still to eke out a 41-40 winning record in '64 - but in the brand-spanking new Astrodome the '65 team ended up slipping to a 36-45 home record. That could be attributed to the fact that for most of the year they had to play in "green-painted dirt and dead grass", though away teams would have suffered the same conditions.

Maybe the new changes will end up assisting the Marlins standings-wise, but as the past shows, that's not a given.

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