MLB Home Runs Now More Common Due to Climate Change, Study Says

George Costanza made hitting home runs sound easy when he described it on Seinfeld: “Calculate the velocity, v, in relation to the trajectory, t, in which g, gravity, of course remains a constant. It’s not complicated.”

While the physics behind baseball may seem unalterable, higher temperatures reduce air density, which makes it likelier for a batted ball to fly farther. That means climate change is now influencing the game — and affecting the frequency of home runs, according to new research.

In a paper published Friday in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, researchers from Dartmouth College find that rising global temperatures have led to ...