FanGraphs Audio: Dave Cameron’s Confirmation Bias

by
June 28, 2016

Episode 663
Dave Cameron is the managing editor of FanGraphs. During this edition of FanGraphs Audio he discusses (on the occasion of another dominant performance by Jose Fernandez at Marlins Park) the current state of research on home-field advantage; attempts to explain why the Boston Red Sox might play a 29-year-old first baseman with a limited major-league future alongside top prospects Andrew Benintendi and Yoan Moncada at their Double-A affiliate; and reveals that the authors of FanGraphs are not clairvoyant.

This episode of the program either is or isn’t sponsored by SeatGeek, which site removes both the work and also the hassle from the process of shopping for tickets.

Don’t hesitate to direct pod-related correspondence to @cistulli on Twitter.

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Audio after the jump. (Approximately 37 min play time.)

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Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.

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Josermember
7 years ago

You’re really evaluating road trips incorrectly, I think. A “road trip” involves packing everything up, getting on a plane, possibly changing time zones, and then unpacking at a new hotel and clubhouse. So each road series an MLB team plays is the equivalent to an away game for an NFL team, and unlike an NFL team they generally string several together without going home in between. For example, if the Mariners go on one road trip that involves them playing in Tampa Bay, and then in Boston, and then in Detroit (as they most recently did), that’s the equivalent of three separate away games for the Seahawks, or more than a third of the entire NFL road schedule, and without a week’s break between them.

Even if you dispute that equation, and insist that an entire roadtrip with multiple flights and hotels in the middle of it is the same as a single away game for the other sports, MLB still has more of them. Just doing a quick count of a few schedules this year shows that MLB teams typically have a dozen roadtrips in their season. That’s 50% more than the NFL (and again, those roadtrips generally involve multiple cities in multiple timezones).

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