The home-field advantage in baseball has to do with a…mundane reason: familiarity with the ballpark. This comes through in extra-base hits. Because baseball fields do not have a consistent outfield shape, size or turf, outfielders have adjustments to make between parks. Among balls hit into the outfield, home teams have more hits, especially triples and inside-the-park home runs.
— From Sean Forman’s post on the nature of home-field advantage at “Keeping Score,” the New York Times baseball blog. Forman’s piece was written well before Dodgers rightfielder Xavier Paul misplayed two balls into a triple and a double + error during the climactic eighth inning of the Cubs’ 1-0 victory over Los Angeles, Thursday afternoon at Wrigley.
