Jet Lag: Fact or Fiction?

Is jet lag to blame for Boston’s slow start?

In the March 21st Boston Globe, Dan Shaughnessey penned this column, in which he called the affects of jet lag overrated. Granted, Shaughnessey wrote this article when the Sox first arrived in Japan, but after starting the season 2-4 after the Oakland series, some Red Sox fans have been using the Japan trip as an excuse more than a 10-year-old uses the dog ate my homework excuse. Both Shaughnessey and the Boston faithful got me wondering how much jet lag actually affects the traveling teams. To do so, I checked how the four previous teams who started the season in the Far East did in the opening stages of the season.

Now, I have never traveled far enough to experience jet lag symptoms myself so I searched the Internet to see how long jet lag symptoms last. In a round trip from the States to Japan, jet lag would seem to last anywhere between a minimum of a week to about a maximum of two weeks. Let’s say every team that went to Japan would experience the symptoms for the maximum length of time. Here are the four teams’ records within the two-week time frame of coming back from Japan:

TEAM	W	L
2000 New York Mets	6	7
2004 New York Yankees	5	6
2004 Tampa Bay Devil Rays	5	6
2000 Chicago Cubs	6	9

The month of April was the worst of the season for the both the 2004 Yankees (11-10) and the 2004 Devil Rays (6-13). The Cubs finished April with a record of 9-16, which was their worst month in the first half. The Mets rebounded in mid-April with a nine game winning streak and finished the month 15-9. All four of these teams though, had a better winning percentage in the month of May.

What about Oakland? They went to Japan too and they have won five of their last six, plus, they are tied for the division lead with the Angels. The only possible explanation I can find is that Oakland went directly home to the Bay Area after arriving from Tokyo, played three exhibition games in the Bay Area, and then did not leave until the 7^th for a road series against Toronto. That is around eleven days between serious air travels. On the other hand, Boston went to Los Angeles for a few extra spring training games, traveled to Oakland to finish their series and then traveled cross-country to Toronto for a series on the 4^th. So you could make the argument that traveling like Boston did certainly did not help the jet lag while Oakland got to play at home while they were recovering.

Now, of course it is very possible that this is all just coincidence. Although, judging by the statistics, the slow starts for the teams traveling back from Japan will only last for those first few weeks of the season. As for the long-term effects on the teams, the 2000 Mets went to the World Series and the 2004 Yankees were three outs away from winning an American League pennant. So for those Sox fans worried about their team’s slow start affecting the rest of the season, judging by past history, your sluggish beginning should only be temporary.