On Sunday, August 7th, the heat was widespread across the nation and this resulted in a first for the baseball season…all games in the big leagues featured a “high” Home Run Forecast Index (HRFI) of 8, 9, or 10. This type of HRFI value suggest that the weather conditions were most favorable for the baseballs to travel and indeed several games featured numerous total runs and home runs. In Philly, for example, where the HRFI was a 10, there were 14 total runs and 4 homers hit. In St. Louis, the HRFI was a 10 and the Cardinals outslugged the Yankees with 21 total runs in the game and 3 homers. Elsewhere, the runs were plentiful in Kansas City (18), Oakland (10) and 3 homers and 4 homers were hit respectively in those locations. As far as Monday is concerned, cooler weather has pushed into the Upper Midwest and the Cubs are quite likely going to feature only low-to-moderate Home Run Forecast Index values.
Meteorologist Paul Dorian