Colorado Altitude

[justD]

I’ve lived here for about a year and a half now. Used to visit in my 30s to go hiking in the summers. Love to hike now fairly regularly, up to around 11,000’ max, more often around 6-7000’. I’m now in my late 60s. Have never experienced altitude sickness and often get surprised when I’m reminded of it. I have been affected by the low humidity and have to remember to always have water with me. It really wears me out when I get dehydrated, and it’s just not something I’ve ever been in the habit of monitoring (tho it’s becoming more of a habit now).

Mark DeRosa often relates how much he hated coming to Coors, how he always felt like he was going to die (hyperbole for the sake of laughs on the show, but still).

The only thing I’ve ever heard about effects on play, since the humidor approach began a couple decades (?) ago, is how pitches don’t break as sharply, as was mentioned in a previous post. The field also feels a bit cavernous (based only on 2 visits so far).

I’ll be at all three games this weekend and can’t wait. Two games I’ll be sitting below the mile-high mark, one intentionally behind home plate above the purple row. It’s a beautiful stadium. Hoping for a good series!

[Orioles West]

22 minutes ago, justD said:

The only thing I’ve ever heard about effects on play, since the humidor approach began a couple decades (?) ago, is how pitches don’t break as sharply, as was mentioned in a previous post. The field also feels a bit cavernous (based only on 2 visits so far).

Ah yes, the infamous humidor! Installed in 2002 (so both previous trips the O’s made, they utilized humidor stored baseballs). I have not done the research, but I’m not sure I can tell the humidor has made a big difference. Maybe if the Rox developed pitchers or invested in pitchers better I could tell. But yeah, it is very, very dry — tough to get used to no matter how many years here.

Also, cavernous is a good call, Coors Field has the most expansive outfield in the game. The key isn’t home runs, it’s singles and doubles that bury pitchers out here.

[sevastras]

2 hours ago, Orioles West said:

Ah yes, the infamous humidor! Installed in 2002 (so both previous trips the O’s made, they utilized humidor stored baseballs). I have not done the research, but I’m not sure I can tell the humidor has made a big difference. Maybe if the Rox developed pitchers or invested in pitchers better I could tell. But yeah, it is very, very dry — tough to get used to no matter how many years here.

Also, cavernous is a good call, Coors Field has the most expansive outfield in the game. The key isn’t home runs, it’s singles and doubles that bury pitchers out here.

I’m in Idaho(for the past 20 something years).I’m use to the dryness but sure do love landing somewhere with humidity. 
That said, the Rockies having a better home than away record is kind of weird to me. Theoretically, if they spend so much time in higher altitude, they should/do have oxygen rich blood when going to sea level or there about for the first couple of days. That should give them an advantage(theoretically) during those first few days. 

The only issues I’ve seen are nfl players with scycle cell and some others needing oxygen, but supplemental oxygen isn’t exclusive to Denver. 
If we really want to pontificate the effects, was there anything said about the Mexico City series? San Diego is about sea level and MX is roughly 2,000 ft higher in elevation. 
I guess I discount these things because I don’t feel the elevation effects until over 10,000’ but I’m also not an athlete in my prime. 

[Sports Guy]

5 hours ago, CHIP said:

Okay... here goes my best effort:

At real altitude (Coors Field level is 5,173' and Vail Village is 8,150' and the top lift of Vail Peak is 11,246'), the barometric pressure of the atmosphere is much lower than sea-level environments.  (Camden Yards is 17' ASL.  Atmospheric pressure is 14.7 psia at Camden.  As you go higher, there is less column of air and so the pressure and air inside the same place is less.  Specifically: 12.13 psia at Coors Field (82.5%), 10.82 psia at Vail Village (73.6%), and Vail Peak is 9.62 psia (65.4%).  So... if O2 level at Seal level is 20.9%... it becomes 17.3%, 15.4% and 13.7%

The result is that oxygen molecules are spread further apart, lowering the oxygen content of each breath. As a result, the reduced availability of oxygen in the air reduces the blood oxygen saturation in the body. As the percentage of oxygen in the body goes down, the body struggles to efficiently deliver oxygen to tissues, muscles and the brain.

This is the main reason why people traveling from sea-level often feel symptoms of altitude sickness for the first week upon arriving at higher elevations. This desaturation of oxygen is what leads people to experience Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS).  Trainers will likely have O2 in cyclinders in the dugout just for these reasons.  

The other impact, more so than the 02 level which impacts Basketball/Football more, is dehydration.  RH% in Denver in the summer is usually around 20% so it is very dry.  When tourists/adventurers/etc come, they often drink.  Drinking already causes dehydration (resulting in hangovers)... so someone should make sure to tell the O's to drink 8 oz of water after any adult beverage...

The air density, as mentioned in others comments, does impact the distance of hit balls and the spin rate of pitches.  Pitchers that pitch in Denver know what is going to happen to their pitches.  So they tend to pitch better.  This, to me anyway, is the reason for more wins at home for the Rockies.  They know what to expect.  

Lucky guess

[jdwilde1]

8 hours ago, HowAboutThat said:

I’ve been in Denver, and the altitude really takes some adjustment. My stepdaughter suffered from altitude sickness the whole time we were there, although she’d probably have adjusted if we’d stayed longer. I like hiking but wasn’t able to because I was affected by the altitude. Just walking through town was a bit of an effort.

Question is how is the higher altitude going to affect athletes who push their bodies so hard?

Baseball does have a lot of just standing around, so maybe it won’t be too much of a negative?

Is that going to be a problem for the Os?

Any comments?

I have been going to Denver every month for about the last two years for Army Reserve duty.  I definitely feel it when I am doing PT (especially my 2 mile run) but I don’t think it will affect the position players at all.  Maybe if someone hits a triple it will take a few extra minutes to get back to normal.  However, I could see it potentially affecting a pitcher, especially since the pitch clock forces some guys to work more quickly than they would like. 
 

With all of that said, my guess is that there is little to no affect on a baseball game.  Basketball and football, now that’s a different story.

Edited August 30 by jdwilde1

[24fps]

8 hours ago, HowAboutThat said:

I thought the term “abnormal” was considered offensive these days and has been replaced with “differently normal”

Shoot me now.

[CHIP]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

Lucky guess

I stayed at a Holiday inn Express last night