When Freddie Freeman collects his World Series MVP trophy, he should give a special thanks to the short porch in Right Field at Yankee Stadium. Baseball is different from other sports because there is no standardized field of play. Some rules apply: a pitcher's mound must be 60 feet 6 inches away from home plate, and each base must be 90 feet from the next, but the distance to hit a home run is different in every park. According to the official rulebook, "Parks constructed by professional teams after June 1, 1958, must have a minimum distance of 325 feet between home plate and... the right- and left-field foul lines, and 400 feet between home plate and... center field." Still, the MLB doesn't always enforce that rule, and Yankee Stadium is one of those exceptions.
Taylor explaining the finer points of Yankee Stadium dimensions to Travis pic.twitter.com/a7NLa1v3WJ
— Cut4 (@Cut4) October 15, 2024
The Yankees moved to the new Yankee Stadium in 2009, and MLB allowed them to keep the dimensions of their old stadium, which was 314 feet down the right-field line. But the stadiums are not carbon copies of each other—the old Yankee Stadium quickly deepened, making any ball not hit right down the line playable for an outfielder. In the new Yankee Stadium, the right field fence is closer. In fact, it's so close that the opposition has chastised the park by calling it "a little league ballpark."
Who benefits from such a park?
For the most part, left-handed hitters reap the benefits of the stadium's unique construction. Batters usually generate most of their power on their pull side (the side of the plate they bat from), so a left-handed hitter has more power hitting the ball to right field than to left field. The short porch has already had a significant impact on the series - neither of Freddie Freeman's Yankee Stadium home runs would have cleared the fence in Los Angeles, nor would have Will Smith's fifth-inning home run in Game 4. But it's not just the Dodgers benefitting; Gleyber Torres and Alex Verdugo hit homers that wouldn't have gone out in LA. It works the other way, too; Austin Wells hit a double in game four that would have been a home run in Los Angeles, and if the teams had played the LA games in NY, then Juan Soto, Shohei Ohtani, and Freeman would have had an additional homer.
Now, with the stage set for game five, the Yankees may alter their approach when facing Freeman and treat him with the respect he deserves, given his performance and pedigree. In other words: pitch around him New York. Freeman has proven Yankee Stadium is just too small of a park to contain him. He can pull inside and outside pitches over the wall in right field. There's no shame in a cautious approach when facing the future Hall of Famer and (assuming the Dodgers take care of business) the soon-to-be 2024 World Series MVP.