FAREWELL TO THE BIGGEST HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE OF THEM ALL.

FAREWELL TO THE BIGGEST HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE OF THEM ALL. USA Today Sports Weekly for September 23 to 29 has an article on the last days of the Metrodome, the home park of the Minnesota Twins. It will be replaced with a new ball park for next year. The article describes a number of strange things about baseball in this domed stadium. It was hard to see fly balls against the roof and the turf gave funny bounces, making it hard for base runners as well as fielders. Dan Gladden says that “many games have been decided by teams losing the ball in the roof.” The article quotes Fred Lynn that “It wasn’t anything close to baseball.” Being familiar with these peculiarities gave the Twins an unusually strong home field advantage. The Twins won the World Series in 1987 and in 1991, and the Series were unusual because the home team won every game in each series. The Twins won all eight games at home and lost all six games on the road.