Looking at team H/A splits

Yesterday I examined the differences in Mark Teixeira‘s home/away splits during his tenure with the Yankees. Obviously, Tex’s tenure with the Yankees coincides with the existence of the third incarnation of Yankee Stadium so I figured I’d look at how the Yankees have fared in home/away situations over the last three seasons. I’m using the same parameters as last time (wOBA/wRC+/BABIP/HR% [HR/PA]). Let’s start, as we normally do, with the beginning.

2009:
Home: .373/123/.300/3.07%
Away: .359/114/.312/3.3%

As great as YS3 was for home runs that first year, the Yankees actually hit for a higher percentage of homers on the road, which surprised me. Regardless, a .373 wOBA at home is just all sorts of fantastic.

2010:
Home: .365/125/.300/3.07
Away: .328/103/.297/2.62

Last year we saw the Yankees hit a little more poorly on the road. They were still above league average, though their home run rate went way down when they were outside of the Bronx.

2011:
Home: .364/128/.297/4.11
Away: .335/108/.291/3.12

2011 has seen the Yankees become a little more balanced than 2010, but they haven’t hit as well on the road in 2011 as they did in 2009. What’s great is that they already have as many home runs at home (115) as they did in all of 2010. And against league average, they’ve been better in 2011 than they were in 2010, though we can chalk that up to the depressed offensive climate of the past two seasons.

It makes sense to tailor a team to its home park. 81 games are going to be played there with 81 other games being played in essentially random locations. The Yankees have definitely done that, as they have a good amount of players with left handed power (Teixeira, Robinson Cano, Nick Swisher) which suits the short porch rather well. However, the Yankees are talented enough of offense that even when they’re away from home, they’re going to hit better than the league average.

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