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July 14, 2006
Keeping The Ball In The Park
Stump you friends with this question: which team leads the American League in fewest home runs allowed?
Answer: The Texas Rangers with 82. Detroit ranks second with 84, New York third with 86.
That feat is impressive enough on its own, but it gains even more force when considering the extreme homer-friendliness of The Ballpark. Though it has played surprisingly even this season, The Ballpark remains a terrific place to go yard. Using a weighted-average of two years of data (I won’t bore you with the math), The Ballpark has permitted 2.51 homers per game to the Rangers and their opponents, while road parks have surrendered just 2.08.
Here’s the ranking of AL teams based on a park-adjusted index of home runs allowed. 100 is average, lower is better.
Team | Park Factor for HR |
Homers Allowed |
HR+ |
Rangers | 1.11 |
82 | 73 |
Yankees | 1.07 |
86 | 82 |
Tigers | 0.91 |
85 | 92 |
Devil Rays | 0.98 |
93 | 94 |
Indians | 0.98 |
94 | 96 |
Blue Jays | 1.15 |
114 | 98 |
White Sox | 1.08 |
109 | 100 |
Angels | 0.92 |
93 | 101 |
Twins | 0.98 |
99 | 102 |
Athletics | 0.90 |
96 | 105 |
Mariners | 0.94 |
101 | 106 |
Orioles | 1.10 |
124 | 109 |
Red Sox | 0.89 |
109 | 123 |
Royals | 0.94 |
125 | 133 |
Unfortunately, Texas ranks only eighth in the league in homers hit. As you’d expect, that mediocre effort looks much worse when considering where they play half their games (for hitters, a higher index is better):
Team | Park Factor |
Homers Hit |
HR+ |
Red Sox | 0.89 |
115 | 127 |
Tigers | 0.91 |
118 | 125 |
White Sox | 1.08 |
133 | 120 |
Indians | 0.98 |
118 | 118 |
Devil Rays | 0.98 |
113 | 111 |
Blue Jays | 1.15 |
121 | 102 |
Athletics | 0.90 |
95 | 102 |
Yankees | 1.07 |
103 | 96 |
Mariners | 0.94 |
91 | 94 |
Angels | 0.92 |
88 | 94 |
Rangers | 1.11 |
101 | 88 |
Orioles | 1.10 |
94 | 81 |
Twins | 0.98 |
79 | 80 |
Royals | 0.94 |
69 | 72 |
Posted by Lucas at July 14, 2006 06:52 PM