Knowing the quirky ballparks can provide an edge when evaluating players. Plus, understanding how parks play can assist with in-season roster management for streaming hitters and pitchers as well as playing DFS and placing bets.
The third installment of the park factor series will feature a blurb on the home venue of all the American League teams. Pay particular attention to those with contradicting home run and run scoring traits. The perception is that home run parks are all good for scoring and vice versa. As will be explained, this is not always the case.
AL EAST
Baltimore Orioles (Oriole Park at Camden Yards)
The summer heat and humidity, along with friendly dimensions, rendered Camden Yards one of the best HR parks in the league. Renovations to the left field fence in 2022 flipped the script as “Walltimore” cost the Orioles and their opposition 137 home runs over the past three seasons. The club recognized they went too far, and the fences have been moved back in, but not to the extent they were before 2022.
How the venue will play is unclear, but right-handed power should improve. The unknown is whether the shorter distance will allow the left fielder to play shallower, so he can capture more shallow fly balls and line drives while still being able to go back and track down balls hit over their head. Until more data is available, I am considering Camden Yards to be neutral for pitching, while slightly suppressing righty power and continuing to be very favorable for lefty power.
Boston Red Sox (Fenway Park)
Fenway Park is the first of many contradictory venues, though the reason is unique. There was a time that Fenway Park was a boon for right-handed homers, but the construction of the 600 Club behind home plate cut down on the wind blowing out. The deepest right field in the game is also detrimental to the long ball, though a ball pulled down the right field line has the shortest distance to stay fair before clinking off the Pesky Pole. Overall, the venue suppresses homers.
On the other hand, there is limited foul territory, and the Green Monster turns routine outs into doubles, so the BABIP in Fenway Park is usually the highest in MLB. Sure, the 37 feet high wall takes away a few homers, but the net result is the lost outs render Fenway Park as the worst pitching park in the American League, second to just Coors Field in all of baseball.
New York Yankees (Yankee Stadium)
Here is another backwards park, but as opposed to Fenway, Yankee Stadium boosts homers but suppresses scoring. The short right field porch is extremely friendly for left-handed homers, but since the right fielder doesn’t need to cover as much ground, the center fielder can shade more to left which helps the left fielder cover more ground in left while the right fielder can play in and cut off weaker hit balls. The additional outfield outs render the venue to be a slight pitcher’s park.
Yankee Stadium is a great example of how there are times that a team built to take advantage of the park can skew the park factors. Let’s go back to Fenway Park and pretend their lineup was full of right-handers that always pulled the ball down the line. They’d frequently hit 302 feet homers, while the opposition is flying out to the warning track in front of the bullpens. The LHB HR factor in Fenway with this hypothetical lineup would be plus for homers. Clearly, the club does not have the extreme of all lefties pulling the ball down the line, so the actual factor suppresses homers.
The Yankees led the league in percentage of opposite field homers at home. That is, their lineup (mostly Aaron Judge) is proficient at going the other way. Even though left field is deep in the Bronx, more opposite field dingers skew the RHB HR factor as it registers as very favorable. In reality, it’s beneficial for a few of the right-handed boppers in pinstripes but not the whole team, and certainly not the opposition. By the numbers, 27% of the Yankee homers went the other way, compared to the 11% league average.
Tampa Bay Rays (George Steinbrenner Field)
The damage to Tropicana Field caused by Hurricane Milton forced the Rays to find a new home this season. They’ll move from St. Petersburg to Tampa and play at the Yankees spring training complex. The dimensions were designed to mimic Yankee Stadium, so Rays lefty swingers will also be looking at a short right field porch. Because the Rays don’t have as many right-handers with opposite field power, the park likely won’t play as well for right-handed power. However, it is much hotter in Tampa Bay, so the ball will carry more than in the cooler Northeast, aiding carry throughout the outfield. This is just educated speculation, but the assumption will be that Steinbrenner Field will be hitter and homer friendly, which is stark contrast to Tropicana Field. Be wary of Rays’ pitchers while giving a boost to their batters.
Toronto Blue Jays (Rogers Centre)
Being an indoor venue, one would assume park factors in the Rogers Centre would be more stable. That was the case, but recent renovations to the outfield fences rendered the old numbers moot. The changes have resulted in boosting right-handed homers while slightly hurting left-handed homers. Overall, it’s slightly positive for homers while playing neutral for runs.
AL CENTRAL
Chicago White Sox (Rate Field)
Selfishly, I am happy the name is shortened from Guaranteed Rate Field since I couldn’t type it right without spellcheck. Don’t get me started on Alburquerque.
For the longest time, the venue was a favorable home run park. Keeping in mind that the formulas are designed to flesh out quality of team bias (but as shown, it doesn’t always do so), the yard has played less friendly to the long ball. White Sox hitters struggle home and away, but perhaps there is something intrinsic to their lineup over the past few seasons that’s artificially dampening the home run indices for lefties and righties. Lately, Rate Field slightly helps right-handed homers while dinging lefties a tad. Overall, it’s a modest pitching park. From a practical perspective, there should be no reservation streaming opposing pitchers against the White Sox because their lineup is weak. If there was any concern about it being a hitter’s park, those fears should no longer exist.
Cleveland Guardians (Progressive Field)
Progressive Field is tricky. After several years suppressing home runs and scoring, last season it embellished both lefty and right long balls while playing very nasty to pitchers. There weren’t any changes to the dimensions, but there were some renovations to the outfield seats which apparently altered the wind patterns. The repercussions were a very homer friendly and run friendly venue.
Incorporating last season’s indices into a three-year average keeps Progressive Field as a homer suppressing pitcher’s park. History has taught us not to assume the spike last season was not completely responsible for the change. That said, if it is the culprit, the conventionally calculated park factors could be misrepresenting the nature of the venue. Projections could be shortchanging Guardians’ hitters by a few homers while deflating their pitchers’ ratios more than warranted.
Detroit Tigers (Comerica Park)
Comerica Park is one of the true pitcher’s parks in that it deflates homers, hits and runs. It significantly reduces the long ball from pole to pole. Likely due to cooler temperatures than other locales, the lack of carry not only keeps the ball in the yard, but it also allows outfielders to capture most of the fly balls and outfield line drives.
Kansas City Royals (Kauffman Stadium)
It’s serendipitous that Kauffman Stadium follows Comerica Park as Kauffman Stadium also crushes power all over the yard. However, since it has the largest outfield acreage, and the temperatures are higher compared to the Motor City, the ball carries much better than in Comerica Park. Kauffman Stadium also sits at the fourth highest elevation of the 30 MLB venues, aiding carry. Still, the combined effect isn’t enough for fly balls to clear the fences, but Kauffman Stadium benefits batting average for lefties while really embellishing it for righties.
The result is a latent hitter’s park. Kauffman Stadium squashes homers, but the added batting average more than compensates.
This brings up a point sometimes overlooked. Park factors do not affect everyone the same. Earlier, a hyperbolic example of a team of Red Sox pull hitters was presented to illustrate how sometimes the bias isn’t totally removed. Often, there is a player or two whose tendencies are aided by the park, but not enough to alter the factor. Royals SP Seth Lugo is a good example. While he’s not an extreme ground ball pitcher, he induces ample grounders to keep his fly ball rate below average, which is further aided because Kauffman Stadium keeps fly balls from becoming souvenirs. Lugo doesn’t fan many, but he’s stingy with the walks. A low, but not extremely low ground ball rate along with most of his fly balls being handled reduces traffic on the bases. Lugo appeared to be lucky last season and is considered a risk this season, but much of his success was being a perfect match for his home park. A low strikeout rate always adds risk from batted ball variance, but Lugo could be penalized too much, presenting a buying opportunity.
Minnesota Twins (Target Field)
When it first opened in 2010, Target Field was an extreme pitcher’s park. Many batters complained about the batter’s eye, so 14 spruce trees planted in view of hitters were removed. The park played a bit better for hitters, but there were still complaints about the batter’s eye.
In 2019, the club introduced “a living wall”, consisting of tightly bunched Juniper plants. The addition maintained the eco-friendly nature of the park while greatly improving the batter’s eye.
Today, the yard is another latent hitter’s park as it slightly assists homers, hits and runs. The temperatures aren’t favorable, but the relative humidity is a little above average, and it’s situated at the fifth highest elevation in MLB. The elevation doesn’t help much in Kauffman Stadium, but it has more influence in the smaller Target Field outfield.
Even though Target Field increases scoring, it’s not extreme, so don’t worry about rostering Twins’ pitchers, especially because the venue pumps up strikeouts.
AL WEST
Houston Astros (Daikin Park)
Newly rebranded Daikin Park has wavered from being a slight pitcher’s park to slight hitter’s park over the past few seasons. My numbers have it slightly pitcher friendly though Statcast labels it a bit hitter friendly. Let’s call it neutral for scoring.
Despite the inviting Crawford Boxes in left field, the yard is a bit better for left-handed power. The reason is once you get past the Crawford Boxes, left center and center are among the deepest in the league while right field is a bit fairer from center to the right field foul pole.
This is another example of how an individual may benefit or be hindered by a park more than others. In this case, newly acquired 3B Isaac Paredes is an extreme pull right-handed hitter, so he may take greater advantage of the short Crawford Boxes than other right-handed hitters.
Los Angeles Angels (Angel Stadium)
For the longest time, Angel Stadium was a solid pitcher’s park. All it took was some yellow paint to flip the script. Coincidental or not, after signing LHB Shohei Ohtani, the club painted a yellow line on the right field wall. Any ball striking the wall above the stripe was deemed a home run. The venue became more homer friendly, and now it plays a tad favorable for homers and runs.
The perception of the venue has been slow to change. One reason could be the notion that the marine layer hovering over the stadium at night restricts fly ball carry. Detailed studies show the cooler temperature (hindering fly ball distance) and the added humidity (aiding carry) cancel out, with the net result being a very small reduction in fly ball distance. Keep in mind that many still (incorrectly) believe that humidity hinders ball flight since wet air feels heavy. However, as explained in Part One of this series, humidity lessens air density, thus promoting fly ball carry.
Seattle Mariners (T-Mobile Park)
There are no conflicts or quirks in the Pacific Northwest; T-Mobile Park crushes all types of offense, though it’s merely neutral for high-handed homers. The venue is almost as pitcher-friendly as Coors Field is hitter-friendly. Seattle spots the best rotation in the league, so perhaps there is some bias with their starters knowing how to pitch to the park, but the venue has always been a pitcher’s best friend.
Texas Rangers (Globe Life Field)
Park factors are expressed as three-year average to account for the year-to-year variance. Lately, Globe Life Field has exhibited more variance than most parks. The nature of an average is middling the inputs. As such, one season, the park played close to the expressed park factors. One year it was significantly higher, and it was much lower the other year. This adds another layer of uncertainty to evaluating Rangers players.
In general, the venue helps righty and lefty homers; the extent has jumped around. This isn’t as frustrating to deal with as the run index, which has been neutral, hitter friendly and pitcher friendly. The safe play is leaning slightly to favoring scoring, thus be extra worrisome using an opposition pitcher against a potent Rangers’ lineup in Arlington.
The Athletics (Sutter Health Park)
The “Don’t call us Sacramento” Athletics are playing their home schedule in Sutter Health Park as their eventual home in Sin City is constructed. The yard is home to the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats. When rated against other venues in the Pacific Coast League, it checks in as extremely pitcher friendly. However, that comparison is against parks at high altitudes and/or elevated temperatures, which promotes offense. The proper method is comparing against MLB parks, which alters the calculus.
Unfortunately, like with George Steinbrenner Stadium, much of the analysis is educated speculation. Here, the park is serendipitously like the Coliseum in dimensions, except for much less foul ground in Sutter Health Park. The batter’s eye is also superior in Sacramento.
More importantly, the aggregate temperature in Sacramento will be higher, aiding fly ball carry. The temperature delta during the day significantly favors Sacramento, but the difference shrinks at night. The Athletics will play two Sunday matinees each month. Their first three Saturday home affairs are during the day, with the rest under the lights.
Homers and runs should both elevate in Sutter Health Park, but the degree is unclear. Until more data is available, the venue will be considered neutral across the board.
Page 117 of the “So-Called Expert’s Handbook” states that if you’re approaching 2500 words, and you’re only halfway done, it’s time to call it a day and break the column into two postings. As such, this intended three-part series is now a four-parter.
Todd Zola is an award-winning fantasy baseball writer and 2020 inductee into the Fantasy Sports Writers Hall of Fame. He's the content provider for the 2025 Fantasy Baseball Index Draft Kit and the Editor-in-Chief for the 2025 relaunch of the Fantasy Baseball Index magazine.