Ample Acreage in Citi Field Outfield
I looked at the hitting of the Kansas City Royals around July 24:
They hit far more HRs on the road than at home.
As in, just 25 HRs at home this year, as compared to the LA Dodgers’ 96 HRs at home. How drastic a difference is that?
KC has mashed a drastically higher 56 on the road (Dodgers on the road just 58). Wow.
Last year, KC hit 94 HRs on the road, and 76 at home, so there was still a marked road HR advantage, but not as severe as in 2025.
The Dodgers in 2024 had another huge HR advantage at home vs. road, with 27 more at home. (In case you are wondering, the Mets hit 5% more HRs at home than on the road in 2024 and 2025.)
The Dodgers in 2024 and 2025 so far have jacked 226 HRs at home vs. just 161 on the road, or 40% more on their “home court”. 40%. Incredible.
Why does KC hit far fewer homers at home?
It’s apparently the park dimensions.
An article writer elaborated on that in a May 2025 article:
Kansas City Royals Park Article
“(The article’s author, Matthew Lamar) I was chatting with the Royals CF about Kauffman Stadium, the one with the cavernous outfield and propensity for limiting home runs.
I talked to Isbel as well as Drew Waters, Lucas Erceg, and Bobby Witt Jr. about the stadium and how they approach playing in Kauffman Stadium as opposed to other stadiums.
Why this question? Kauffman Stadium is just a fascinating place. The stadium’s famous outfield is by some measures the biggest or second-biggest outfield by total acreage.
In fact, the Royals moved the outfield dimensions in 10 feet for the 1995 season to counteract this, a decision that the Royals reversed for the 2004 season. Yet it is the second-best park to hit in in Major League Baseball. (Brennan note: not really true. KC is 20th in road scoring, but dead last (30th) in road scoring in 2025.
Of course, it is really, really hard to hit a home run in Kauffman Stadium—it’s the fourth-hardest park to hit a homer in, actually. Kauffman is all about the doubles and triples. So, the question: do hitters modify their approach for the roomy Kauffman outfield versus, say, the short Yankee Stadium porch?
The answer was a pretty consistent “no.”
Witt Jr. and Waters mentioned the same core reason, which is that hitting home runs are a byproduct of trying to put good swings on the ball—which has nothing to do with the ballpark. “I think we have little control of where the ball actually goes when you’re trying to hit 98 MPH,” Waters told me. “I think you’re just trying to make hard contact and wherever it goes, it goes. Obviously with a bigger field, some balls that may be caught here may not be somewhere else, but I wouldn’t necessarily say you’re trying to change what you’re trying to do in the box.”
“I feel like Kaufman, when it’s hot, it almost flies better than it does yesterday,” Witt said. “So it’s something that you can’t really try to do. Homers are almost by accident. You miss it, [trying to hit] a line drive, it’s homer. So it’s one of those things where you just have an approach and go up there and take a hack and see what happens.”
Isbel also brought up that both teams have the same advantage, and that hitting in different parks is just how it goes. “I don’t really have a preference,” Isbel said. “It’s the same for both teams who’s playing the same game at the same time.”
Lucas Erceg agreed that thinking about where you pitch is not the way to go. “I tend not to really think about different stadiums having different dimensions, with the walls being different and all that stuff,” Erceg told me. “I’m primarily a sinker ball pitcher, so I like to keep a ball on the ground. So that kind of stuff doesn’t really affect me. I try not to let it affect my mindset, my process and all that stuff.”
As Witt and Waters said, it’s hard to care about where you are when you’re trying to hit near-triple digit fastballs (and then, you know, those pesky sliders).”
Back to me…
The article’s author also noted that Camden Yards has changed its outfield dimensions THREE times since the park was built.
Citi Field? Just twice.
I, Tom Brennan, am hoping for a 3rd Citi Field fences move, too, this one inwards by, oh, 5-7 feet, and 8 feet in center. This way, when Mets hitters “go up there and take a hack and see what happens”, like Bobby Witt said above, they will hit a lot more HRs.
Imagine Soto, Lindor, and Alonso with a lot more HRs? It’s easy if you try.
Lastly, does all that Dodger HR hitting help? Well since the start of 2024, they’ve won 15 more games at home than on the road. So, it seems yes.
They also sure do draw incredibly well at home…the hometown fans love the show that the Dodgers put on. BOOMs sell tix.
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