Does Travel Effect Away Teams Performance In MLS?

Here are the win rates between home and away, they is a mean difference of 0.18 points improvement if you play at home than playing away from home.

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Here is the frequency of away team points compared with travelling East to West. Within ten games travelling West you have a chance of getting 13.4 points (1.34 points per game) compared to travelling East you have a chance of getting 9.6 points (0.96 points per game).

This shows frequency of points are won by the away team travelling across different time zones.

Even though, a main factor that could effect the away teams performance is travelling, the statistical analysis for both travelling direct and travelling across different time zones has shown no significant correlation between away team performance and travel. This follows trends from studies looking at the NFL teams travelling to games.

A main factor we must hightlight is that the data was from the season of 2020 when the Covid pandemic took place so, they is a high level of uncertainty within travelling and away performances. Other studies have identified that travelling in different directions can effect performances in the NBA and the NHL.

Recommendations:

·      Studies have suggested if you stay in a hotel for a night, you are more likely to win or draw the game.

·      Papers have suggested that if you have a 15-minute nap can counteract the effects of jet lag to effect performance.

·      A change of eating patterns so, you eat at the times you would do at the destination before you get on the plane to reduce fatigue.

·      Papers have suggested that changing clocks and watches to the time zone a couple of days before competing will benefit performance and reduce jet lag.

·      Taking night time flights and sleeping on flight will reduce flight fatigue and jet lag.

·      Having daytime naps if you haven’t had sufficient sleep during the travel will reduce the effects of travel and jet lag on performance.