The M’s travel schedule is a disadvantage

DMZ · June 16, 2008 at 10:01 pm · Filed Under Mariners 

So says science.

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13 Responses to “The M’s travel schedule is a disadvantage”

  1. lailaihei on June 16th, 2008 10:08 pm

    Shhh, don’t tell Antonetti…

  2. bergamot on June 16th, 2008 10:18 pm

    Goddam circadians. It’s amazing how critters that wake up every seventeen years can have such a powerful effect on baseball games.

    Uh … what? … oh …

  3. Jar on June 16th, 2008 10:21 pm

    I knew science hated the Mariners!

  4. gwangung on June 16th, 2008 10:21 pm

    Ummm….didn’t somebody pooh pooh this a season or two back….

  5. huckleB on June 16th, 2008 10:21 pm

    Ah, sleep science.

    This brings to mind a question. Not a good question, mind you. But a question.

    Do the M’s do sleep studies on all prospective players? I mean, if this study is backed up by future studies, and the theory is mostly true, shouldn’t that play a part in the decision to sign or draft any future Mariners player?

  6. huckleB on June 16th, 2008 10:22 pm

    gwangung: Perhaps, but that somebody might have been in the wrong time zone when they pooh poohed.

  7. Gerald on June 16th, 2008 10:49 pm

    Maybe one of the reasons the M’s are so bad this year is that they’re not amped up on amphetamines anymore.

  8. Gomez on June 16th, 2008 11:02 pm

    Even science has an East Coast bias.

  9. julian on June 16th, 2008 11:08 pm

    It’s hard to know without seeing the original data, but there a lot of possibilities other than circadian disadvantage which could explain the findings. For example, if the group of East Coast (i.e. less travelling) teams was simply better than the group of West Coast (i.e. more travelling) teams over the time period covered by the study, this alone could explain the discrepancy in winning percentage.

  10. vic_romano on June 16th, 2008 11:29 pm

    That’s why there needs to be a team in Portland or Vancouver BC or Boise!

  11. Ralph_Malph on June 17th, 2008 8:35 am

    Ummm..doesn’t this circadian advantage stuff apply to Oakland and Anaheim as well?

  12. Mere Tantalisers on June 17th, 2008 9:19 am

    The data’s a bit self-contradictory. They say that an away team with the circadian advantage won only 45% of games, which goes against the data unless visiting teams with equal circadian shift normally win at a .4 clip or something, which they don’t mention. The devil is in the controls.

    I also don’t buy the one day per time zone thing at all. Come on, being one hour off makes a big difference? And I know that when I fly to Moscow it does not take me a week+ to adjust to the local rhythms.

  13. joser on June 17th, 2008 12:41 pm

    Given the typical player sleep pattern (up ’til late, sleep until noon) I doubt the shift in time zones has as much effect as it would for somebody who has to be up for an 8am meeting. And yeah, it really seems to be killing LA and Oakland.

    Do the M’s do sleep studies on all prospective players? I mean, if this study is backed up by future studies, and the theory is mostly true, shouldn’t that play a part in the decision to sign or draft any future Mariners player?

    You’re kidding, right? This is a team that barely believes in math, and you think they’re going to do studies? I mean, you might get their attention if you tell them sleep impacts “chemistry” but their response is going to run towards voodoo dolls and rabbits’ feet, not studies.

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