Jun
19
The physical toll of a road trip
ByThe Freakonomics blog points to a study about the impact of jet lag on baseball players. As Scientific American summaries, “A new study shows that MLB teams that travel such distances to play a game could have up to a 60 percent chance of losing.” The study goes on to note that the advantage dwindles as teams get more acclimated to the new time zone and suggests that MLB factor in days of rest at the start of long road trips. Freakonomics also links to a Science Blogs post noting that the Amphetamines ban may account for the jet lag effect.
If that’s the case then why doesn’t Steinbrenner buy the largest jet available and give each player his own room on the plane? I mean… do we want to win or what?
Ummm…don’t ALL teams have up to about a 60% of losing? Or do they mean a 60% *greater* chance of losing?
this comment shows a frightening lack of math skills
That doesn’t include trips to FREAKING JAPAN does it?
The amphetamine ban has nothing to do with this… this study looked at games from 1997-2006, which was mostly before amphetamines were banned.
Isn’t this something that most teams have figured out, at least during the playoffs and try to counteract by sending their next game’s starter off a day or two earlier than the rest of the team? Could never udnerstand why most teams didn’t do that during the regular season.