This article is part of our Umpire Analysis series.
Those of you who have been active on FanDuel recently have likely noticed some rather significant changes. In a previous column, I covered the addition of player notes to help track progress and injury. Now, it seems the website has taken another step in becoming an all-encompassing DFS location by producing its own lineup information and weather reports.
There are three basic elements included in FanDuel's new weather tracking page: Temperature, wind speed and chance of precipitation.
While each of these factors is important to consider when crafting daily lineups, we'll be looking specifically at the two that can directly affect the flight of the baseball.
I think it's fair to assume that most of us know the broad strokes when it comes to the effect that temperature and wind can have on the ball, but the extent of the impact may surprise you. Here is a link to some excellent work done by Scott Lindholm at Beyond the Box Score, which shows a strong correlation between temperature increase and offensive production.
As we can see from the first chart, slugging percentage, isolated power and home runs per at-bat all show a marked increase as Mother Nature turns up the heat. This information suggests that we should target parks such as Chase Field in Arizona, where game-time conditions can reach 110 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer.
It's easy to underestimate the degree to which wind can wreak havoc on a batted ball. After all, a wind speed of 10 MPH won't do much more than blow leaves around your backyard. Apply that same amount of force to a baseball, however, and the outcome of a game can potentially be changed.
Physicist Robert K. Adair, in his book, "The Physics of Baseball," notes that a 1-MPH headwind can reduce the distance of a 400-foot fly ball by three feet. This means that the 10-MPH gust of wind that we barely notice can turn a sure home run into a 370-foot out in certain stadiums. Keep this in mind when you check out daily conditions, as even a relatively small amount of wind could affect your lineup in a meaningful way.
I noticed a number of unhappy comments in response to FanDuel's addition of this data to their website, with the main gripe being that they are making it too easy for players to locate crucial data. I believe concerns of this nature are overblown.
As I alluded to above, you won't typically find many competitive players at this stage in the evolution of daily fantasy who don't have at least a cursory grasp of the importance of weather. Plus, all of the included information is not more than a few simple keystrokes into a search engine away. It's for this reason that I believe our edge comes not in simply knowing such data exists, but understanding how crucial this data can be in the success or failure of our daily lineups.
That's information you won't find by simply going to a FanDuel page.
