Article: CHS Field Proving to Be Anything But Heaven for St. Paul Saints

[Rob Pannier]

There is no more common strategy in any sport than gaining the home court advantage. Teams battle all season long to get as many home games as they can come playoff time, as they know that there’re are numerous advantages to having more games at home than on the road.

 

It is understandable that a team would want home field advantage. The home crowd. Knowing how the field plays. Sleeping in your own bed. All of those are advantages and, in the most critical games of all, should give a team a decided advantage.The Saints Struggle at Home

Since moving into CHS Field, the St. Paul Saints have taken full advantage of their fancy new digs. In 2015, when the club set a franchise record for victories (74), the Saints were 38-12 at home. A season later, they went 34-16, helping them to win the North Division for the second season in a row.

 

Not in 2018, however. The Saints are one-half game out of first place in the North Division, trailing the Gary Southshore RailCats, and are tied for second with the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks. They have been in first or second in the division all season long, but that has not been because of their performance at home.

Coming into Wednesday night’s contest against the Wichita Wingnuts, the Saints are 12-14 at home, the eighth best home record in the league. This, despite holding a 33-28 record overall.

 

The Question Without an Answer

No one really seems to have an answer for why this is happening. St. Paul Saints Manager George Tsamis called the home struggles “perplexing,” and has openly wondered if some players are more exciting about playing in St. Paul than they are about playing for St. Paul.

 

Some are wondering if this is just an anomaly that has been seen across the American Association this season. Amazingly, there are three teams with higher winning percentages on the road than the best team at home has.

 

Of the seven teams that have a winning record, only three have a better record at home than on the road. The Sioux City Explorers are 27-5 away from home, a truly ridiculous record, but they are just 16-11 at home. The Kansas City T-Bones, the team with the best winning percentage at home are 16-10 (.615) in Kansas City, but 23-11 (.676) on the road.

 

Maybe this is just a season where the road team has found some kind of odd advantage. Two weeks ago, the Explorers came to St. Paul and swept a three-game series from the Saints. A week later, the Saints traveled to Iowa to take on Sioux City and won two out of three. The road team has simply found some kind of inexplicable edge.

 

Time to Make a Change

The St. Paul Saints begin a five-game homestand on Wednesday night, when the Wichita Wingnuts come to town for two games. (Wichita is 16-9 on the road this season.) They then have three at home against the Texas AirHogs (5-21 on the road). This begins a run where the Saints have 24 of their remaining 39 games at CHS Field.

 

Going .500 at home the rest of the way is simply not going to do it if this team has postseason aspirations. With the pesky RailCats hanging around and the RedHawks starting to heat up as they have gotten healthy, St. Paul must turn CHS Field back into a house of horrors for opponents. They realistically must win at least 16 of their remaining home games to claim one of the two playoff spots in the North Division.

 

One can only imagine what a commanding lead the Saints would have if they had matched their winning percentage from the first three seasons (.640). That would have made them 17-9, giving them 4.5 game lead in the North.

 

However, one ought not worry about the past. Baseball is a sport where one can not dwell on yesterday’s performance, instead needing to focus on what can be done today. With that in mind, the St. Paul Saints have to figure out a way to turn CHS Field into their own sanctuary of success. Fortunately, each and every night they will have 8,500-plus fans to help them to reach that goal.

 

 Robert Pannier covers the St. Paul Saints and all of the American Association for the Minor League Sports Report.

 

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[theBOMisthebomb]

There has been much churn and turnover of the Saints roster this season. This is a factor that could lead to diminished home performance as the Saints haven't had time for the roster to jell.

[bighat]

Cool to see some Saints reporting! Thanks!