[IE]

It’s only spring training, right? Doesn’t really matter that your favorite team isn’t winning, right?

Wrong. Winning does matter in spring training, which is why it is discouraging that the White Sox and Cubs have put up a combined 12-21 record so far.

It’s true that you can have a bad spring and then a good season, and almost as true that a good spring could be followed by a bad season. But over the last five years, there has been a 60 percent chance that teams’ regular-season records would follow the trends they set in spring training.

Throwing out teams that went .500 (either in the spring or the season), 44 of 72 teams that had winning springs went on to winning seasons. Thirty-nine of 66 teams that had losing seasons went on to losing seasons.

And recent history suggests a winning spring carries even more weight for teams intent on making the playoffs. Only 14 of the last 40 playoff spots went to teams that had losing spring records. That’s 35 percent. Almost twice as many (26, or 65 percent) managed records of .500 or better.

[IE]

2012 Spring Training Standings

Cactus League
Team W L Pct
Oakland 13 4 .765
San Francisco 11 5 .688
Los Angeles 8 4 .667
Seattle 11 6 .647
Los Angeles 9 6 .600
Kansas City 9 7 .562
Colorado 8 7 .533
San Diego 9 8 .529
Cincinnati 7 10 .412
Arizona 7 10 .412
Milwaukee 6 9 .400
Chicago 7 11 .389
Chicago 5 10 .333
Cleveland 4 10 .286
Texas 4 11 .267



Grapefruit League
Team W L Pct
Detroit 12 1 .923
Toronto 13 4 .765
Boston 9 4 .692
Minnesota 10 8 .556
Miami 7 6 .538
St. Louis 7 6 .538
Houston 8 7 .533
New York 8 9 .471
Baltimore 6 7 .462
Philadelphia 7 9 .438
Pittsburgh 6 9 .400
Washington 5 8 .385
Atlanta 5 11 .312
Tampa Bay 4 10 .286
New York 3 11 .214

Last updated Monday, Mar 19, 2012 1:38 am EDT

[EXTRAPOLATER]

could be true, but I haven't pondered any long-term stats.

If memory serves (rarely) I believe that the in the Rays breakout season, a few years back, when they faced Philly for the Stanley Cup ( ) [neverminds], they had a phenomenal spring.

The misses can hit more than the hits, if yaknowhatimean.

keep 'em comin', IE, as my horrorscope telled me I'm stuck with 10.5 more years of non-rapture.
excluding that blonde space cadet on the 3rd, of course.

The outs are limited so I'd take a sacrifice fly at this point.

nevermind the bollocks

cheers,
and thanks for the continued info