SELECT SCORE:
Every day, we as people talk about the weather. It can affect our mood and how we dress. It can also change how baseball games are played. This influences betting on baseball at the top sportsbooks, as we will discuss.
If you regularly attend or watch a certain team in the major leagues, you are familiar with the intricacies of the ballpark you visit or that your favorite team plays in. The parks that teams play in also determine a part of how we bet on baseball games.
Let’s look at the weather and ballparks and how they can play into our decision-making for wagering on the sport of baseball.
Temperatures and Wind Moves Lines
In the northern tier of the U.S., unless you have a dome (or retractable one) stadium, those April and May games can often be chilly affairs. Baseball bettors will sometimes notice lower totals than normal in those matchups, though the starting pitchers also play a part in determining the total.
Depending on a stadium setup, when the wind is blowing in or out, oddsmakers will act accordingly and post fair numbers that will include the perception of the public in these instances.
Be Smart to Understand What Weather Influences
Here is the thing about the weather when making baseball picks: just because it’s sunny in the morning doesn’t guarantee it will be sunny all day. The weather changes and while forecasting is better than it used to be, it is not exact.
Always keep in mind that the oddsmaker is also watching the weather forecast and will set the number, including the temperature if necessary, along with the projected wind direction.
While the weather element should be respected, always handicap the teams and numbers first, consider their overall performance next, and determine what role temperatures and wind could play before making a selection.
Too often, you will get a knee-jerk reaction to the wind blowing in or out and bettors will jump to choose an Under (blowing in) or Over (blowing out) without understanding the game situation.
This writer watched thousands of games at Wrigley Field on television or in person and just because the wind blows out on a summer day or the breeze is howling off Lake Michigan, neither proved to be a certainty for the suspected outcome. Understand the complete picture when looking at totals where the weather might have an influence.
Understanding the Uniqueness of Stadiums Is Important
The majority of baseball stadiums lend themselves to be neutral or slightly one way or the other. Most often anything beyond that is attributed to the players on the field. This is important to know in the decision process of making baseball picks.
Why The Yankees and Dodgers Succeed
Baseball teams are supposed to build their teams to fit the stadiums they play half their games in. Some like the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers are quite good at finding the right players that can excel at home and utilize those talents effectively on the road.
Is it any wonder why, for decades, the Yankees have utilized left-handed power hitters with the short distance to right field? Or strong hitters that can hit long bombs anywhere from foul pole to foul pole?
The L.A. Dodgers’ best seasons always had a collection of strikeout pitchers and when balls were hit in the air, the thick air from the Pacific Ocean could turn homers into outs. While that was also true for Dodger batters, their hitters tended to be pull hitters who could pound pitches down the lines to short porches and low fences, along with those who are skilled at driving the ball to the alleys.
Matching The Players to the Park
Places like Petco Park, Citi Field, and Comerica Park were all pitcher’s parks when built, which the teams thought would work to their advantage. What each found after a few seasons, was that those local fans wanted to see their team win, but all the 2-1 and 3-2 games were driving fans away.
Each brought the fences in and while still favoring the pitchers, they are close to neutral today.
The Rockies Have Never Figured Out Their Stadium
The Colorado franchise, still today, cannot come up with an answer for their pitching situation. Fly balls in the thinner air of Denver travel further. Pitchers who rely on breaking pitching find them breaking less at Coors Field and what the Rockies truly need is a collection of power pitchers who can throw strikes.
Though Colorado has had the share of star hitters who put up big numbers at home, they’ve also had ordinary batters who enjoyed inflated averages at Coors but had huge home/road differentials that contributed to the Rockies often being a dreadful road team.
In any given season, know the home/road splits of all the teams both for side betting and totals. At the same time, comprehend what parks are hitter or pitcher-friendly for the growing prop betting market.
