Ed Puskas: Indians’ home performance is in the numbers

The Cleveland Indians have a problem in their house and Cuyahoga County’s chicken population should probably start to worry.

It might be time for a sacrifice to the baseball gods.

Teams – especially first-place teams – aren’t supposed to lose at home more than they win. The home park is supposed to be a place where the occupants play .600 or better ball.

Right now the Indians would love to be a .500 team at Progressive Field. With a record of just 18-22 (.450) at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario, the Indians are not making much progress at home.

And yet, away from home, the Tribe is 26-16 (.619). They recently swept a four-game series at Minnesota and took three of four in Baltimore. Then the Indians returned home to host those same Twins and lost three straight. They scored just two runs in that series and were shut out twice.

Last weekend, they won two of three in Detroit before returning home – and in familiar fashion – and losing to the lowly San Diego Padres 1-0 on Tuesday night.

Admittedly, I’ve always been a stat geek. Not so much with the “new” stats, like WAR (wins above replacement), BABiP (batting average on balls in play), FIP (fielding independent pitching) and UZR (ultimate zone rating).

Who has time for that?

But baseball is a game of statistics and when you look at the Indians’ old-school numbers – specifically their home and away “splits” – it’s pretty easy to see why they’ve been better away from Cleveland. With the exception of batting average (.261 at home, .256 on the road), the Indians’ hitting and pitching numbers are all better on the road.

The Tribe hits more doubles, triples and home runs away from home and scores more runs on the road.

Given the way the Indians struggle to score runs at home, you’d think Progressive Field would be a tougher place for everyone to hit. And you’d be wrong.

Other teams have fared better against Indians pitching in Cleveland. The Tribe’s team ERA is lower and, in concert with that, opposing teams’ batting averages are lower against Cleveland in those games.

The biggest difference may be in slugging percentage. On the road, opponents slug at a .377 clip against the Indians. In Cleveland, that figure surges to .427. So someone is banging the walls at Progressive Field, but it hasn’t often been the Indians.

What do all these numbers mean?

Damned if I know. That’s the charm of baseball.

The only thing we know for sure is that the numbers don’t add up. No other MLB team currently in first place has a losing record at home.

Only the Indians suffer from this statistical aberration. Chances are it won’t play out that way over the entire season. If it does, the Indians aren’t likely to stay in first place because it’s not easy – or likely – for a team to play .619 baseball on the road.

PETA won’t like it, but it might just be time for a sacrifice. And not the bunting kind.

Write Vindicator Sports Editor Ed Puskas at epuskas@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @EdPuskas_Vindy