KC Royals: Why Do The Royals Play Differently On The Road?

The KC Royals are 38-31 and just 1/2 game out of first place in the AL Central as of 20 June. The KC Royals are 25-8 at home, and 13-23 on the road. In fact, the Royals have one of the best home records in baseball. So why are the Royals such a different team when they play at Kauffman Stadium?

For starters lets look at the Royals home and road splits with respect to offense. At home, as a team, the KC Royals have a slash line of .287/.339/.436. The Royals are also averaging 5 runs per game at home. The only team better in all three hitting categories than KC happens to be the best offense in baseball, the Boston Red Sox, who are slashing .291/.355/.481.

The KC Royals offense on the road however is a different story. The road slash line for KC is .264/.309/.389. Those dismal hitting statistics certainly explains the Royals  averaging only 3.25 runs per game on the road. That is almost 2 runs less per game on the road than at home.

But wait! There’s MORE!

KC Royals pitching at home has been pretty good. At home, Royals pitching has an ERA of 3.47, a FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) of 3.70, and the K-BB rate is 16%. Meanwhile on the road, Royals pitching has an ERA of 4.48, a FIP of 5.14, and a K-BB rate of 9.9%.

Next: Kauffman Stadium Effect On Pitching

Does Kauffman Stadium Cause The Pitching Difference?

Now, you might say that Kauffman is a pitchers park, and to some degree it is.  By “some degree” I mean that while it is harder to hit home runs at the K than some other band box parks. The K does allow a lot more doubles than other smaller parks do. The K also doesn’t have as much foul ground as parks like SF or Oakland so there are other factors than just dingers determining what is and isn’t a pitchers park.

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In any case, there is a stat known as “xFIP” which accounts for differences in ball park dimensions as well as typical wind speeds and direction, elevation etc as well as opponent quality. The KC Royals road xFIP is 4.65, (you can intemperate it like an ERA) while their home xFIP is 3.98. So even when adjusing for ball park, and defense, the Royals pitchers are simply just worse on the road than at home.

However, none of the above statistics really answers the question as to “Why?” the Royals are worse on the road. They only serve to make the case that they are in fact worse on the road and that there isn’t any park factor, or fly-ball factor explaining all the road futility.

One may be able to point to injuries a bit in terms of the offensive road/home spit discrepancy. Brett Eibner was unavailable during the last road trip and has been a key part of both the most recent home-stand, and the one before Eibner went on the disabled list.  Eibner may not be the defender Jarrod Dyson is, but he certainly looks like a massive upgrade at the plate and with him, Paul “Ted Williams” Orlando, and Cain in the outfield, the offense is much better.

Next: Kendrys Morales