Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Home cooking

Teams following the Orioles in the AL East and the Marlins in the NL East better hope that those teams continue to struggle at home.

Baltimore is 8-7 at Camden Yards, or, to put it in perspective, 1/2 game better at home than lowly Tampa Bay. But the Birds are 9-2 on the road. Florida is 8-6 at home and 7-3 on the road.

Having looked at a random sample of division winners since 1990, it seems most play between .600 and .650 ball at home. If the Orioles put it together at home, they might be very tough to unseat. Of course, chances are the Birds won't continue to win at the same rate on the road, so it might balance out.

The struggles might be a good sign, too. The Orioles last division title came in 1997 when they went 46-35 at home and 52-29 on the road.

Oddly, Houston has the best home record in the majors at 10-4, but is 1-10 on the road.

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