Bud Black unconcerned over lack of dominance at home

DENVER – Some managers and coaches in professional sports across the spectrum make home-field advantage or home-field dominance a priority. Colorado Rockies manager Bud Black is just trying to win each game, one at a time.

Historically speaking, the Rockies have been much better at home than on the road. Colorado’s all-time home record is 1044-883. That’s a 54 percent win rate. Over a 162 game season, that marks out to about 88 wins which would put them near postseason contention each year if they only played their games at home. Their road record? A disastrous 759-1171.

But, Black stresses, this is a different team made up of different ballplayers with a different level of talent.

“This is a new team. Every year is different. The composition of the team, the coaching staff, a new year. I don’t want to draw any comparisons to previous teams but I assume that we’ll play good baseball home and road.”

When asked whether or not it’s too early to be concerned at all that the team hasn’t seemed to find a rhythm at home, Black says he doesn’t even know what their split record is.

Colorado is still above .500 at Coors Field with a record of 15-13, so Black is likely spot on in his lack of concern. There is plenty of season to go and at the end of it, we could be looking back at this stretch as an oddity and nothing more. Interestingly, the two teams the Rockies are battling for the top spot in the NL West right now — the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers — have both been much better in their home ballparks than out on the road.

Eerily, both are 21-8 at home while the Diamondbacks are 12-14 away and the Dodgers 12-13 when they play away from Chavez Ravine. Somebody better check all the splits on these players! Products of their home park, probably.

This is especially interesting because, while Black’s logic that different talent levels ought not be framed by old, context-free stats, the nature of Coors Field has made Colorado’s case over the years a special one. There is an overwhelming amount of statistical data that suggests the Rockies are at a competitive disadvantage because of something loosely defined as the Coors Field Hangover Effect.

Because of this, the Rockies current 18-9 mark away from their friendly confines is actually far more encouraging than their lackluster mark at home.

As long as they continue their winning ways in the overall record (the last three games notwithstanding) Black will remain unconcerned over where the wins come from. But it is still absolutely worth noting — especially the further we get down this road — that the Rockies are winning in a manner they literally never have before.

While some pundits will always look in at any modicum of success the Rockies achieve and chalk it up to getting a boost from their home ballpark, Colorado is proving themselves adept at solving arguably the greatest demon that has haunted them since they came into existence and possibly one of the toughest disadvantages in all of professional sports.