Crosley Field housed the Reds for nearly 6 decades
The first Major League baseball game was played under the lights as in 1935 in Cincinatti. Little did the people at the Crosley field know that day that night games would soon become the norm. Day games seem to be an oddity but, for us purists, we love the game under the sun. It seems like more runs are scored in day games, the ball carries more, and pitchers sweat more (not just because of the heat). Of course there’s going to be outliers and data could be skewed by park factors and NL/AL run differentials but, I want to look at the effect that day/night games have on run scoring.
I recently came across this study which seems to link batting results with the type of person. It distinguishes between morningness and eveningness or those who operate better in morning/evening. The study then tracks how 16 baseball players, over two years, performed in the two categories. So the morning people hit .252 at night vs .267 before 2 pm. Those who lean towards the evening hit .260 before 8PM but after 8 caught fire, hitting .306.
Lets see how it plays out in the Majors.
First, there’s about twice as many night games as day games. So far, each team has averaged about 24 day games played while they’ve played an average of 43 night games (not including tonight’s games).
Secondly, so far in 2011 batting average goes up in day games. It goes from a league wide average of .255 in day games down to .250 in night games. But, let’s be careful not to put too much emphasis on .005 batting average points as I remind you that that’s about 1 extra hit every 200 at bats.
Next, OPS and Home runs. OPS drops from .721 to .704 as the game time shifts 
later. And home runs are hit at a rate of .84 per game at night vs .92 under the sun.
Lastly, the only thing that really matters is runs scored. Runs drop from 4.25 per game to 4.09 as the clock turns…clockwise. (Side note, bonus points to whoever can explain why clockwise is known as “clockwise” rather than counterclockwise known as “clockwise”).
Interestingly, this is exactly what I thought would be the case. Runs scored per game is a little higher during the day. Its fun when something like this works out and fits with my hypothesis. The reasons for the fit are much more difficult to quantify. A further hypothesis, better suited for true empirical investigation, is the speed and authority with which the ball comes off the bat in the daytime vs night time.
I find the study, combined with recent productino at the Major League level interesting. Is the Majors made up of more of the morning people? Are reaction times simply better before 2 PM? Are the night people in the Majors the successful players as most games are played at night? I have questions with no answers….
Stat of the Day: Citi Field cost $850 million dollars. It was paid for by the sale of New York Municipal Bonds to be repaid plus interest. Add that to the sadness of the Mets organization.
-Sean Morash
