Baseball fans - I'll bet you didn't know ,,,

Baseball fans - I'll bet you didn't know ...

There is now another ballpark in the majors that inflates runs as much as Coors.

The Rockies and their opponents have scored 10.8 runs per game in Coors, and 7.7 on the road.

The Rangers and their opponents have scored 11.0 runs per game in Arlington, and 7.9 on the road.

Both stadiums have been adding about 40% to offensive production, defined as scoring.

What does that mean? Well, the most obvious conclusion is that the Rangers' pitching is much better than you think. Do you know which major league team has the lowest ERA on the road? It's not the Phillies or Giants, although they are a close second and third. It is the Texas Rangers. Their overall pitching stats don't look that impressive because of the inflated run scoring at The Ballpark, but their pitching staff also leads the majors in holding opponents to the lowest OPS on the road, the lowest on-base percentage on the road, and the fewest hits allowed on the road. If you are like me, you had no idea they were that good.

The other obvious conclusion is that they're not the offensive powerhouse that you think they are. Michael Young has an OPS of .921 at Arlington, .778 on the road. Nelson Cruz has the most dramatic splits - an OPS of .961 at Arlington and .716 on the road. (Last year was just as dramatic: 1.098/.804) He has hit a homer every 12 at-bats in Texas, but only one every 23 at bats on the road. Josh Hamilton's splits are not as dramatic (.913/.861), but that's because things haven't had a chance to level out statistically. Last year his OPS was 1.188 (!!) at Arlington and .894 on the road. Overall, the Rangers' OPS splits are .856/.730.