How well will the Twins play outdoors on grass?

[VAfan]

In any discussion of who will win the AL Central this year, I think you have to take into account that the Twins will no longer play 81 games in the Metrodome, and instead will play them outdoors on a grass field.

 

If you look at their grass/turf splits, it doesn't look good for them. But is it all just a road/home split? Or is their team not suited to play as well on grass?

 

I'm looking for some analysis of this issue. Anyone want to weigh in?

[chw42]

In any discussion of who will win the AL Central this year, I think you have to take into account that the Twins will no longer play 81 games in the Metrodome, and instead will play them outdoors on a grass field.

 

If you look at their grass/turf splits, it doesn't look good for them. But is it all just a road/home split? Or is their team not suited to play as well on grass?

 

I'm looking for some analysis of this issue. Anyone want to weigh in?

 

Well, now that they no longer depend on Carlos Gomez and all those other speed demons, they should be better fitted to play on grass.

 

Still, I think the Metrodome was a pitching advantage for the Twins. We'll see how it evens out.

[SI1020]

I would think it's a little hard to begin to figure out the little idiosyncrasies of a new ball park until at least a couple of months of baseball is played there. The Twins have always been adaptable and resilient, and I'll bet they'll work this ball park to their advantage just like they did in that dome.

[RockRaines]

The metrodome was one of the biggest home field advantages in baseball. With the pumped in crowd noise, the enigmatic fans and the terrible turf, no other team could play there better than the Twins.

[caulfield12]

The dirty ceiling was another factor...

 

I can't count on two hands the number of "lost balls" in the lights that ended up going against the opposition in that place, especially the White Sox.

 

Then there's the short CF fence that was seemingly designed for Torii Hunter to rob every single ball under 10'5" coming down...the one against Carlos Lee still rankles me.

 

Enigmatic fans? I wasn't sure if this was referring to the home crowd or opening up the "jets" when the Twins were hitting and/or reversing the flow when the opposition was at bat.

 

What were those things they used to give away? Homer Hankies? Whatever it was, with 50,000+ waving those towels and making tons of noise...well you only need 1987 and 1991 to see the difference it made...or watch the implosion of Bobby Jenks in late 2008 in the final game of a crucial series up there.

 

 

[greg775]

I think they'll have the usual homefield advantage, but it won't be anything like the dome. I would suspect we'll win our share of games in the outdoor park.

[RibbieRubarb]

The cold weather might also have a factor at the games early in the season, now.

 

 

[soxrwhite]

Go to the Twins website and look at their Ballpark. It has a right field overhang of some sort. Not an upper deck overhang like old Tiger stadium but it looks like the lower bowl has 8 or 10 rows jutting out over the wall. Made for Mauer, Morneau, Kubel, and now Thome. Maybe that helped Thome make his decision to go there. Easier to get his 600th. They are already grooming their team to their new ballpark.

[NorthSideSox72]

It should be obvious that it will have some effect - the Dome was such a unique playing field, this has to be a big change. They've made some personnel changes that will help them, but that won't remove the transition period, where they will be as new to it as the other teams. They'll figure it out, but I think 2010 will be less successful than it otherwise would be for the Twins, in terms of defense and pitching. That means fewer wins.

 

[Balta1701]

It should be obvious that it will have some effect - the Dome was such a unique playing field, this has to be a big change. They've made some personnel changes that will help them, but that won't remove the transition period, where they will be as new to it as the other teams. They'll figure it out, but I think 2010 will be less successful than it otherwise would be for the Twins, in terms of defense and pitching. That means fewer wins.

I've stated it in other threads but I'll repeat it here again...the numbers for the Twins pitching staff last year argue against this. Most teams on average pitch quite a bit better at home than on the road, between knowing the stadium, mound, and being in their own beds, etc.

 

Last year, this simply wasn't true for the Twins starters. They were some of the worst in the league at home and some of the best in the league on the road. The Twins starters really struggled at home.

 

I'm of the opinion that the Transition period you refer to for the Twinkies, esp. for their pitching staff, is going to be very short, and compared to last year, moving out of the dome is likely to help their starters.

[NorthSideSox72]

I've stated it in other threads but I'll repeat it here again...the numbers for the Twins pitching staff last year argue against this. Most teams on average pitch quite a bit better at home than on the road, between knowing the stadium, mound, and being in their own beds, etc.

 

Last year, this simply wasn't true for the Twins starters. They were some of the worst in the league at home and some of the best in the league on the road. The Twins starters really struggled at home.

 

I'm of the opinion that the Transition period you refer to for the Twinkies, esp. for their pitching staff, is going to be very short, and compared to last year, moving out of the dome is likely to help their starters.

If you look over multiple years, that's not true.

 

Also, think of it this way. Even if the transition period and learning curve are only steep the first couple months - that's around the time the ball will start flying out of that stadium. It will be hot, and those porches look pretty short to me. That helps their power hitters (M&M, Thome), but hurts their pitching.

 

Besides, even if it only takes them a couple months to really adjust, and they then regain the home field advantage... that's still a couple months of struggles, for a team that at-best is a marginal favorite to win the division.

 

[Dick Allen]

Over the past 4 years, the Twins have had a better road record than the Sox except for 2008, when it was 1/2 game worse because of the Black Out game. So if their homefield advantage is as compromised as some here seem to believe, the White Sox changing from a power team to one without a lot of power and still seemingly a fairly low OBP may compromise their homefield advantage.

 

The Twins didn't win many games last year against the White Sox in Minneapolis in which you could pin the stadium as the reason. As someone who has played several games in the Metrodome in college I can tell you offensively its a little adjustment (obviously I wasn't facing major league pitching) playing there, but something I'm sure major leaguers are over, especially if they have played there in the past, after their first BP when they come to town. Defensively, it was a little tough at first, you just have to always watch the ball, but when you're in college and play in a big league park, even if it may be the biggest dump, its pretty much heaven, especially when its indoors in Minneapolis in March. The alternative is brutal.

 

One way the move might help the White Sox is mentally. The past several seasons, they lost series there before they ever started. I do agree with the post above, it seems the Twins are stacking themselves with LH power hitters, perhaps a sign of how they feel the park will play. Ironically, its one thing the Sox definitely lack.

[Quin]

One way the move might help the White Sox is mentally. The past several seasons, they lost series there before they ever started. I do agree with the post above, it seems the Twins are stacking themselves with LH power hitters, perhaps a sign of how they feel the park will play. Ironically, its one thing the Sox definitely lack.

 

I would love for some anomaly to happen that makes it difficult to hit HR's to right in that park.

[Buehrlesque]

IMO, this whole ballpark thing is being greatly exaggerated.

 

Could Lew Ford and Luis Rivas and Jason Tyner win the division playing in Target Field? No. But what all these overly-simplistic looks for 2010 fail to recognize is the Twins have an actually good baseball team now, with players who are good at hitting. This Twins team is not as ballpark-dependent as the teams from 4 or 5 years ago.

 

The park looks pretty nice too, from photos I've seen. The one advantage for the Sox is that they (hopefully) won't have the ridiculous mental block, defeatist attitude and self-fulfilling prophesy of losing at Target Field like they did in the dome. Hopefully that will translate into more wins there, or at least more games where the Sox can score after the 4th inning.

[sircaffey]

Going from turf to grass (and they'll probably grow it long), is only going to help the pitching staff. With solid infield defense, I think the Twins will end up performing better in this new stadium. The home field advantage won't be nearly as great, but imo, these two factors will probably cancel each other out over the long haul.

[everafan]

In any discussion of who will win the AL Central this year, I think you have to take into account that the Twins will no longer play 81 games in the Metrodome, and instead will play them outdoors on a grass field.

 

If you look at their grass/turf splits, it doesn't look good for them. But is it all just a road/home split? Or is their team not suited to play as well on grass?

 

I'm looking for some analysis of this issue. Anyone want to weigh in?

 

They aren't a punch and judy team anymore - they will hit for sure. Pitching TBD.

[35thstreetswarm]

Going from turf to grass (and they'll probably grow it long), is only going to help the pitching staff. With solid infield defense, I think the Twins will end up performing better in this new stadium. The home field advantage won't be nearly as great, but imo, these two factors will probably cancel each other out over the long haul.

 

 

Hard to say how it will affect the Twins over the course of a season, but the most exciting thing for me is its potential to affect the season series with the White Sox. We seemed to develop a very real collective psychological issue with that dome. It infected the whole organization, from the players to Ozzie to Hawk. It got to the point where every trip to the dome was counted in advance as three in the loss column. If the change in stadium can turn trips to the Minnesota from debacles to just normal road series we should gain 3-4 games on a key rival right there. That, to me, is the real key.

[chw42]

Going from turf to grass (and they'll probably grow it long), is only going to help the pitching staff. With solid infield defense, I think the Twins will end up performing better in this new stadium. The home field advantage won't be nearly as great, but imo, these two factors will probably cancel each other out over the long haul.

 

I think you have to take into account that the batting backdrop in the Metrodome was absolutely atrocious and it was an advantage for Twins pitching. How many series do you remember where we went in there for the first game and couldn't hit anything?

 

The Twins hitters adjust to it more easily since they play half of their games there, but it won't be as easy for the away teams to do so. It takes some time to adjust.

Edited February 15, 2010 by chw42

[elrockinMT]

I am sure the Twinkies will do just fine and continue to be formidable competition. Dang it!

[Baines3]

I think the Twins will adjust to it just fine, unfortunately.

[champs2005]

Guys, this topic has been on my mind alot. Will the Twins infamous home-field advantage decline in their new stadium? I hope so!

 

I think an important factor is that VISITING teams will play better at Target field. No longer will teams have to adjust to that crappy horror-dome. Going to MN will be just like going anywhere else, grass, sky, maybe a little colder.

 

So I feel like discounting a few wins off the Twins total because the competition will be more equalized by normal conditions in Mpls.

 

[The Gooch]

Go to the Twins website and look at their Ballpark. It has a right field overhang of some sort. Not an upper deck overhang like old Tiger stadium but it looks like the lower bowl has 8 or 10 rows jutting out over the wall. Made for Mauer, Morneau, Kubel, and now Thome. Maybe that helped Thome make his decision to go there. Easier to get his 600th. They are already grooming their team to their new ballpark.

 

Yet another reason for the Sox to add a lefty power hitter as a DH

[Rowand44]

Hopefully terrible. Seriously though, I'm sure they'll be fine but there's absolutely no doubt that we'll play a lot better in Minny now.

[Ranger]

I think they'll have the usual homefield advantage, but it won't be anything like the dome. I would suspect we'll win our share of games in the outdoor park.

 

 

This. They'll probably have an advantage, like most teams do, but I doubt it will be as advantagous as it has been.

 

As far as how the field plays: like I posted in another thread, analysis of the park shows that the dimensions of the two park have few differences from each other. They are fairly similar. What they don't know yet, is how the wind will play.

[Balta1701]

What they don't know yet, is how the wind will play.

But...the odds of it blowing out when the home team are up and blowing in when the visitors are up are a lot lower.