The Rangers Could Benefit from Home Field Advantage Like Never Before in 2020

ARLINGTON, Texas — With the Major League Baseball season on the horizon, experts around the sport are beginning to make their predictions for an unpredictable, unprecedented season. It may be all in vain as a 60-game season could allow a "bad" team to ride an unexplainable hot streak while a "good" team struggles to stack wins or stay healthy. It could all be one gigantic crapshoot.

Even so, the Texas Rangers are not being penciled in by many experts to earn a trip to the postseason. As a matter of fact, the Rangers aren't expected to finish higher than fourth in their own division. The AL West boasts two superior teams in Houston and Oakland along with a revamped Angels roster that many experts believe is better than what the Rangers have in Arlington.

However, the Rangers are not void of talent. A playoff appearance, while surprising to most, is not an outlandish thought. The Rangers boast one of the best starting rotations in baseball. Lance Lynn and Mike Minor were both Cy Young candidates in 2019 and are looking sharp in camp. Offseason addition Corey Kluber, who also has been impressive in camp, has a résumé that demands respect. Kyle Gibson and Jordan Lyles are also very good compliments at the back end of the rotation.

Yet, there is another card left to be played—one that teams usually don't get the chance to play: the ability to learn a brand new ballpark before any opponent steps in, even for a tour.

With MLB clubs holding camps at their home ballparks, the Rangers are getting more than three weeks of work at Globe Life Field. That's more than three weeks of learning how the ball flies with the roof closed and, if the unforgiving Texas sun allows them to, maybe with the roof open as well.

They'll also learn how the ball bounces and glides on the artificial playing field. The Arizona Diamondbacks have the same surface installed at Chase Field. However, some Rangers players have much different reviews for the two ballparks.

"In Arizona, it was soft and mushy. It felt like I was sinking in," Rangers slugger Joey Gallo said. "This feels very normal and I actually like it a lot. I'm kind of surprised. Growing up playing on grass, you are concerned, but I don't think this will cause any problems. It's easier to run on. I think we learned from Arizona."

Both hitters and pitchers are also learning Globe Life Field is much more of a pitcher's park than their previous one. Some players don't necessarily want to label it that way. They'd rather call it neutral or fair. However, there's no doubt that balls wont't fly out in Arlington like they have in the past.

Some players have also mentioned the shape of the outfield. Despite the square-footage of the new outfield being slightly less than the old one, players seem to think the gaps play much bigger.

"I see a lot of triples and extra bases for me," Elvis Andrus said.

"There’s going to be a lot of first-to-third singles," Todd Frazier said.

The outfield walls at Globe Life Field have several angles along with a couple nooks and crannies. There's nothing extreme like Fenway Park in Boston, Oracle Park in San Francisco or PNC Park in Pittsburgh. However, the Rangers are learning how the ball bounces off the wall, as well as how forgiving it is with a ball compared to a human body.

Then, there's that pesky roof. Arlington temperatures from mid-June through September will likely keep the roof closed. With Globe Life Field becoming the ninth ballpark in baseball with a roof, players aren't necessarily void of experience with them. That doesn't mean they like them, though.

"It's pretty critical to understand the roof," Rangers manager Chris Woodward said. "It's going to be a challenge for a lot of guys coming in."

During these few weeks of camp, the Rangers should get a much better understanding of their new park well before an official pitch is ever thrown, a luxury that no other team will have. Teams usually don't have this much time to get a feel for their new homes before the season begins, since they hold their workouts at spring training facilities during normal years.

This familiarity could allow the Rangers to steal three or four early wins before opponents can get a grasp of how the new park plays. Such a home-field advantage would carry little weight in a 162-game season. However, under this 60-game format, those three or four contests will have a much greater impact on the final standings. Right now, the Rangers are projected to finish with a 28-32 record, according to Fangraphs. Based on these projections, four more wins would tie them with the Athletics for the second wild-card berth.

Will the Rangers steal that many games in 2020? Who knows. I'd like to think professional ballplayers will adapt quickly. But only the Angels and Athletics will travel to Arlington multiple times this season. The Houston Astros won't even make a trip there until the final series of the season. That's a crucial time to win games in an unfamiliar ballpark.

No, home field advantage alone won't catapult the Rangers into a playoff spot. But it could be just enough of a factor where they could sneak in unexpectedly. After all, if there was ever a season where an underdog steals a playoff spot, it's going to be this one.

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