Dome Sweet Dome! – Jays Home/ Away Splits

1 of 2
Next

Apr 15, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays right fielder Jose Bautista follows the flight of the ball as he hits a two-run home run against Tampa Bay Rays in the first inning at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

We have always thought that the Blue Jays have had an advantage playing in the Sky Dome I mean Rogers Centre over the years but after diving into the stats I found some odd facts.  Offense has always been a plus in the Rogers Centre.  It is consistently ranked one of the higher offensive ballparks in baseball according to ESPN’s Park Factors.  Last season the Rogers Centre ranked 9th in runs and 3rd in home runs on the Park Factor list.  So far this season there are some interesting things going on between the Jays home and away splits.  Lets dive in and take a look at it.

Offensive Production

The Jays have had solid performance on offense this year period.  They rank highly in all the major categories so far in all of baseball.  Scoring 223 runs will usually propel your team to first place but our pitching has been lack luster thus far.  Knowing that that Rogers Centre is a launch pad you would think that the Jays are taking full advantage of their offensive ballpark.  This season however shows that their output is nearly identical to how they perform on the road.  The below chart shows the comparisons.  The typical stats are very similar but batting average, OPS, and strike out rates are rather different.

Looking at the other ballparks in the AL East I can understand the offensive rates for the road.  Our division rivals also have very friendly hitting ballparks.  What really stood out to me was the strikeout rates.  This lead me to believe that the hitters eye in the Rogers Centre must give the batters a better chance at picking up the pitches.  For example the Rogers Centre has a very open center field with a solid black background above the blue wall, were Baltimore’s Camden Yards has a rather tight batters eye that is covered in ivy.  Do these seemingly subtle cosmetic ballpark differences really make such a difference?  From the Jays aspect it looks like a valid argument when they are striking out 203 times away from the home vs 123 at the Dome.

Another stat I found interesting was the drop in batting average and OPS.  Could this be due to the artificial surface allowing every day singles to turn into doubles?  Currently the Jays batting average at home is .278 versus .240 and their OPS is .820 home versus a .697 away.  This should indicate that we are having more extra base hits and walking a lot more.  Looking at the chart however the splits in extra base hits and walks are rather similar.  These numbers hopefully will show that the offense could get on base some more when away from Rogers Centre.

Next: Our pitching is actually good at home?

Apr 16, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays opening pitcher Aaron Sanchez (41) against Tampa Bay Rays in the fifth inning at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Peter Llewellyn-USA TODAY Sports

Pitching Production

As we know our pitching has been the reason we have lost a bigger share of games then we should have.  With a team total ERA at 4.73 I can see why we have had issues winning games.  When you take a look at our splits we are pitching excellent at home and getting destroyed away from the dome.

At home the Jays pitching is posting an 11-9 record with a 3.68 ERA.  Away they are showing a 5.71 ERA with an 8-15 record.  They have only allowed 80 runs at home vs 127 away also.  The teams WHIP drops from 1.508 to 1.227 at home which is crazy when you think that the Rogers Centre is a hitters park.  Their has been talk that the new AstroTurf is much slower then its previous versions.  This could be part of the math that is allowing the Jays pitchers to perform better at home.

More from Toronto Blue Jays News

Looking at our pitchers I wanted to see just how much better our starters have fared at home.  Rookie Aaron Sanchez is an interesting example.  Thus far he has pitched 4 games each at home and away.  In the home starts he is 2-2 with a 2.88 ERA and 1.320 WHIP.  Away from the Rogers Centre he takes a wicked turn to a 1-2 record with a 5.77 ERA and 1.820 WHIP.  I understand that Sanchez has been getting better as the season has progressed but the other main starters followed this same trend.  The one I was rather thrown by was that Drew Hutchison also followed this trend.  He has been known for not pitching well in the Rogers Centre but is doing incredibly better at home versus away through 24 innings of work each.  Hutch has a 4.07 ERA at home and an 8.03 ERA on the road.   That is just shocking to me because it is so different.

It appears that the Jays have some things that they need to figure out on the road.  Yes it is always easier to play at home in front of your fans, but there is room for a massive improvement on the road.  The statistics that we just looked at show there is potential for our current staff of pitchers to be average if they can find out how to translate the success from the Rogers Centre.  It appears to me that things may not be as bad as they look when looking at these stats.  We are not playing like a last place team in our friendly hitting home.  If part of the success at home can be shown on the road we can contend for a playoff spot.  If they can improve their on base percentage offensively and start controlling some of the run scoring from a pitching aspect we will start to win more.

Please join in on the conversation below and let us know what you think.

All information and stats provided from Baseball-Reference.com

Next: Devon Travis to the DL

More from Jays Journal

Next