MLB Wind Direction Today

How to tell if the wind is blowing out

Wind speed on its own tells you almost nothing. What matters is the angle of the wind against the line from home plate to centre field. A 15 mph wind pointing straight out to centre adds real carry to every fly ball. The same 15 mph blowing across the field from first base to third base barely changes home run distance at all, because it pushes the ball sideways rather than out.

That is why this page reports a verdict rather than a compass reading. Each game is scored on the angle between the measured wind and the orientation of that specific ballpark, then labelled blowing out, blowing in, across the field, or calm. A compass direction such as south west means different things at different stadiums, because no two parks are aimed the same way.

What wind speed actually changes the game

Under about 8 mph the effect is inside the noise and is not worth acting on. Between 8 and 15 mph it starts to matter for balls that were already close to the boundary, which is most of the home runs that separate one slate from another. Above 15 mph the effect is large enough to move a team's implied run total, and a wind of that strength blowing in is one of the few same day conditions that can turn a good hitting park into a poor one for a night.

The effect is not symmetric. Wind blowing in takes away more home runs than the same speed blowing out adds, because a ball that is knocked down dies on the warning track while a ball that is helped still has to have been hit well enough to reach the wall in the first place.

Wind sits on top of the park factor, it does not replace it

Park factors are the slow moving baseline, built from several seasons of batted ball data. Wind is the fast moving layer on top. A park that suppresses home runs all year can play neutral for one night with a strong wind out, and a launching pad can play fair with a stiff wind in. Read the two together rather than either alone.

Start from the hitter friendly and pitcher friendly rankings to know what the park does on an average day, then use this page to adjust for today.

Which ballparks are never affected by wind

7 MLB ballparks have a fixed or retractable roof: Globe Life Field, American Family Field, Chase Field, Tropicana Field, loanDepot park, Daikin Park, Rogers Centre. When the roof is closed the conditions inside are constant and no weather adjustment is applied anywhere on the site. The remaining 23 parks are open air and get a full wind, temperature and humidity read.

A retractable roof is a decision made by the home club a few hours before first pitch, so a park on that list can still play as an open air park on a mild day. The verdict column reads roof closed only when the game is actually being played under cover.

Frequently asked questions