With the Rockies raising their fences, here are five teams who could add some home-field advantage
Earlier this week, the Rockies announced that they would be raising the height of some of their outfield fences in hopes of cutting down some of the insane offense and making it, as Rockies GM Jeff Bridich said, "more fair for pitchers in this ballpark."
It's certainly not the first attempt that the team has made. The sheer size of the outfield was in hopes of cutting down on home runs (though it really just boosted the amount of space where doubles and triples could find purchase) and the humidor has been used in recent years to keep balls in the park.
But it's not just the Rockies who could upgrade their stadium and give the home team a bit of a boost. Here are five others:
In baseball's early history, foul balls weren't the same as what we have today. As long as the ball was in fair territory first, it could then roll foul and be considered a ball in play. Ross Barnes was the master of the curling hit, leading the league in hits in four different years between 1872-76 largely because of the tactic.
Given the large amount of foul territory at the Coliseum, the Athletics could get a real boost against their competition if they petition the league to bring it back when they're at home. With no one else was practicing it, the A's would be able to exploit a real inefficiency. After all, Billy Burns collected 30 infield singles last year. Now imagine how many he could pick up if he could just aim for the line and let it roll foul.
Not only would this prove to be enormously popular because, c'mon, what person on this planet doesn't want to listen to Vin Scully, but it will also be a handy way to distract the opposition. While the Dodgers will have special training to help them pay attention to the game, the opposition will likely be easily picked off while they're too engrossed with one of Scully's bonafide classic stories.
Rarely is a player happy when they hit the catwalk. Whether it's because they missed out on a home run or ended up stranded on an outfield wall, hitting the catwalk can surely be frustrating. Why not spice these moments up a little by adding the Price is Right classic "Plinko" to the catwalk.
Given the kind of offensive firepower that the Cubs' lineup has, they likely don't need any help. Still, why not take the advantage where you can.
With the addition of the ravenous, man-eating Audrey, any deep drives that come near the wall will likely be left to drop in for hits except for the most brave and/or foolish of outfielders.
Because when he shouts, "You can put it on the board ... yes!" he can now actually put it on the board. And that's gotta be a real mental boost to the team.
