Commentary: There might be one advantage to climate change: More home runs at Dodger Stadium
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Not much good comes to mind when you think about the effects of climate change.Wildfires, floods, melting ice caps, heat waves, the bleaching of ocean reefs.But then there’s baseball, and one possible silver lining.Has global warming turned Dodger Stadium into a home run launching pad?I was watching Monday night’s ESPN telecast of the L.A.game against Tampa Bay when the play-by-play announcer said that once upon a time, it was an article of faith that fly balls didn’t carry far in the heavy night air of Chavez Ravine.However, the announcer continued, a Dodger executive had told him that over the last several years, “in general, the marine layer is gone, and the ball has started to carry at night, and you can see it now in the numbers.
It is a great home run hitters park.”This is statistically true.Between 2020 and 2025, Dodger Stadium had more home runs than any other major league park, although this year’s total is lagging behind last year’s pace.
In all of Major League Baseball, home run totals have fluctuated but gradually increased over the years, with this year’s pace running slightly ahead of last year’s.Climate & Environment It’s not just MLB — the NBA, NFL and NHL could reduce pollution by adjusting their schedules, new research finds.That can’t all be attributed to climate change, as retired Dodger great Steve Garvey is going to explain in a minute.
When considered city by city and decade by decade, there are lots of factors in home run totals, from ballpark dimensions to playing strategies to the number of long ball hitters in each lineup.But with Dodger Stadium, the marine layer angle jumped out at me because I’m always on the lookout for relatable ways to tell the climate change story.In the past, I’d written about the gradual demise of Joshua trees, the effect of receding fog and higher heat on the California wine industry, the growi...