Is it harder for a MBL team to win on the road compared to professional Basketball or football?

Question

It's always more difficult to win a game on the road vs at home in any sport. Is it more difficult in baseball than other sports. Best anser to the best explanation either way.

Answer 1

That really depends on the circumstance. In a high-scoring close game, I think the home team has a significant advantage by batting last. Also, the difference between baseball and the other sports like football and basketball is that the field dimensions vary, and teams tend to build with their stadium dimensions in mind.

Perhaps football is like this to a lesser degree, with warm-weather vs cold-weather teams, indoor vs outdoor, etc. But it seems to have less of an impact in football, at least in the regular season.

A really good example of this are the Houston Astros. Back in the days of the astrodome, they used to covet offensive players who hit line drives into the gaps and could run for doubles and triples, whereas now they play in a smaller park where the gaps are smaller and the home runs are easier to hit. So their prototype player has changed.

I know, the game overall has changed in that direction, but my point remains. If a team is playing in a stadium for which they are built against a team that is not necessarily built for that stadium, there is an advantage to the home team.

Of course, the best thing to do is look at it statistically. Comparing the last complete regular season in each sport, here are the records and winning percentages for the home teams:

Baseball: 1327 - 1102, .546 pctge (1)
Football: 136 - 120, .531 pctge (2)
Basketball: 753 - 519, .592 pctge (3)

Statistically, NBA basketball would be the toughest sport to win on the road. I either case, I think football is the sport where it has the least impact. With an entire week to prepare for one's opponent, and the fact that adverse conditions typically affect both teams equally, that makes logical sense to me. The numbers also demonstrate that to be true.

Answer 2

I would think so. All of the baseball stadiums are configured different so the style of hitting, pitching, and defense teams need to succeed can vary where as all football and basketball courts are the same size. Some stadiums are more suited to power teams and some to speed teams, some to ground ball pitching some to fly ball pitching. Although footbal does vary in the type of turf that it is played on.

Answer 3

Longer season therefore more can go wrong. This also leaves more possability for exessive loosing streaks thats why they always say. You wont win anything in the first month but you sure can loose it.