Which baseball city has the worst weather?
By Scott Cimini on July 12, 2012, 10:47pm
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Weather plays a big role in outdoor sports. Wind, rain, hot and cold temperatures, and humidity can all have an effect on the outcome of a game.
In football they play in pretty much any weather, but baseball becomes impossible to play when heavy rain moves in. Due to this, we have rain delays and rain outs. Just because there are occasional rain outs doesn’t mean they still don’t have to play in some light rain and moderate rain showers. Earlier this week I shared a video from Arlington, Texas where a bolt of lightning and a loud clap of thunder sent players and umpires running to the dugouts.
This got me thinking about weather and baseball. Which team has to deal with the toughest weather? First let’s look at rain outs.
The teams with the most rain outs in the past decade are the Boston Red Sox (31), New York Yankees (24), and the New York Mets (28). This means that these three teams will have to play more double headers and make up games than the average team. This is probably a little unfair to them, but there is very little you can do about the weather unless you have a dome built. Since these teams have some of the highest payrolls in the league, maybe it levels the playing field a little bit. Early in the season it gets pretty darn cold in Boston and New York and that keeps the ball down and fewer home runs are hit. Same thing happens towards the end of the season too. Players must take precautions to ensure they are fully warmed up before playing or they could injure themselves easier.
While the teams in the Northeast have to contend with rain, the teams in the south must deal with scorching hot temps. Teams like the Texas Rangers, Florida Marlins, and the Atlanta Braves play in some of the hottest weather in the country and heat plays a big part as well. Balls carry more on hot summer nights and while it’s an advantage for the batters of the home team, it can also be a disadvantage to the pitching staff.
Source: MLB advanced Media
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