It does seem like the home team should have an advantage in the same way it seems like the team in college football that goes second does. But it's probably slight if it even exists (and there's not yet enough data).
I do like bkox's idea. But clearly they have no interest in anything other than ending the games as early as possible and using as few arms as possible. And it's hard to argue with that in the modern game. If starting pitchers went 8 it wouldn't be that big a deal. But these days it seems like managers use every one of their best relievers 7-9, and sometimes 6 as well, so the guy pitching the 10th is often your long or middle man.
