This is why a batted ball will carry farther in warmer, less-dense air, making it all the more likely that a solid hit will result in a home run. Molecules in the air are energized when they warm up – they bounce around more and spread out, meaning there’s more empty space between them. The physics at play here are relatively simple. “And as a fan, I indeed am a little bit frustrated that home runs may continue to dominate, as it does now,” he added. “We’re not saying that every home run now is because of climate change, but you take the data and slice it any way you want, you find the same thing.”Ī dog steals the show after catching home run ball during spring training game “I remember being surprised at how strong the finding was,” Callahan told CNN. That’s hundreds of more home runs per season compared to this century’s first two decades.Ĭhristopher Callahan, lead author of the study and a doctoral student in climate modeling and impacts at Dartmouth College, spent his early years in downtown Chicago within walking distance of Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs.Īnd as a “baseball nerd,” he wanted to see how climate change could be altering his favorite sport. If temperatures continue to warm rapidly because of planet-cooking pollution, climate change could end up accounting for 10% of all home runs by the end of the century. The study, published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, found that more than 500 home runs since 2010 can be linked to unusually warm temperatures. Whether it’s a change in the baseballs themselves, better analytics or more robust player training, many have speculated about what could be behind the upward trend in Major League Baseball home runs in recent years.īut new research released Friday raised another potential factor: climate change.
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