A history of team performance at new parks

What can the Braves expect in their first season at SunTrust Park?

December 20th, 2016

The Braves will move into a new ballpark, SunTrust Park, on Opening Day 2017 after calling Turner Field home for 20 seasons. It will be the first Major League stadium to open since Marlins Park in 2012.
When they move into their new digs in April, the Braves will seek to replicate some of the success they enjoyed during their inaugural season at Turner Field, which opened in 1997 following the '96 Summer Olympics. That season, the Braves drew more than 3 million fans to the yard as they won 101 games, captured the National League East title and reached the NL Championship Series.
So how have other big league clubs fared during the first full season at their current ballparks? Here are 13 facts and figures you might not know:
• Nine teams have reached the postseason, including the 1997 Braves.
• Three teams have won the World Series: The 2009 Yankees, the '06 Cardinals and the 1912 Red Sox.

• In terms of fan interest, six clubs led their respective league in attendance.
• Fourteen ballparks drew more than 3 million fans in their first full year. The Blue Jays hold the attendance record for new parks, having drawn 3,885,284 fans to SkyDome (now Rogers Centre) in 1990.
• The 1912 Red Sox own the best record for a team in its first year in a new ballpark, having gone 105-47 in the inaugural season at Fenway Park. The next-best record belongs to the 2009 Yankees, who won 103 games.
• That same Red Sox club had the biggest gain in wins for a club in its first year in a new park, with an increase of 27 wins over the 1911 team. More recently, the Orioles increased their win total by 23 when they moved into Oriole Park at Camden Yards in '92.
• SunTrust Park will be the newest stadium in the Majors, while the oldest, Fenway Park, enters its 106th year.

• The Astros had the biggest drop-off in wins for a club in its first year in a new park, winning 25 fewer games in 2000 than the 1999 club when they moved to Enron Field (now Minute Maid Park) from the Astrodome.
• The biggest gain in runs scored from one year to the next saw the Royals increase their run total by 175 from 1972 to '73, when they moved into Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium). The team played its home games at Municipal Stadium in '72.
• The largest decline in runs scored took place in 2001, when the Pirates moved into PNC Park, where they scored 136 runs fewer than the prior year at Three Rivers Stadium.
• The biggest gain in runs allowed from one year to the next occurred when the Astros went from the Astrodome to Enron Field in 2000, giving up 269 more runs.
• The largest decrease in runs allowed from one year to the next came when the Orioles moved to Camden Yards in 1992, when they gave up 140 fewer runs than the '91 club, which played its home games at Memorial Stadium.
• The 2009 Yankees hold the best regular-season home record in a new ballpark (57-24). The best record among NL clubs belongs to the 2000 Giants (55-26).