Rangers open roof at Globe Life for ALCS Game 4, despite objection from Dusty Baker: 'Don't know what changed'

Astros manager Dusty Baker said both teams were told the roofs would be closed all series

Those new to watching games in Globe Life Field, home to the Texas Rangers, in Game 3 who are planning to also tune in for Game 4 might find that it looks a bit different. Major League Baseball has decided that the ALCS game Thursday evening in Arlington will be played with the retractable roof open.

The Rangers' ballpark hasn't hosted an MLB game with an open roof since May 21, as the hot summer months in Texas are obviously not the most attractive in terms of attracting fans to outdoor games. With the temperature Thursday expected to be in the high 70s around the time of the first pitch, dropping to low 70s by the later innings, the MLB decision-makers apparently decided this was the time to open the roof. 

It seems like a bit of a last-minute decision -- wouldn't all weather-related matters have to be? -- so much so that Astros manager Dusty Baker said pregame Thursday that this wasn't what they heard the plan was for the series. 

"We were told there was an agreement the roof wouldn't be open at either place," Baker said. "I don't know what changed." 

Remember both Texas ballparks have retractable roofs and Minute Maid Park's was closed for Games 1 and 2. 

In terms of the impact the open roof might have, keep in mind that, generally speaking, hotter temperatures make for better hitter environments. Opening the roof when it's warmer outside means warmer temps inside, therefore the run-scoring environment should improve. Sure enough, in the Rangers' limited outdoor sample this season in Globe Life Field, it played as one of the most hitter-friendly environments in all of baseball. 

Using Statcast's park factor figures, in which 100 is average and anything above or below show the percentage away from average (that is, a 95 means five percent below average for hitters and 115 shows 15 percent better for hitters), here's the difference: 

Globe Life park factors	Roof closed	Roof open
Hits	105	113
Runs	114	132
Home Runs	134	145
Hard hit balls	105	105

The key there is that the hard-hit balls didn't increase. Everything else did. Why would that be? That's easy. Due to the warmer weather inside the ballpark, the balls in play were traveling further. It's important to note this was only an 11-game sample with the roof open and it all happened earlier in the season, but the trends show that we could expect to see a bit more offense with the roof open.